glean and learn. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 17 this morning as we look into the subject of true humility or Christian humility displayed, might be a better way of putting it, or what or you could say what does true Christian humility look like. That's what these verses are going to tell us. Even though the word humility is not in the text, This is exactly what Jesus is talking about. Follow with me as I read verses one through 10 of Luke chapter 17. Am I turned on back there? I don't know if I am. Am I good? Okay. Had a momentary panic attack there. And he said to his disciples, it is inevitable that stumbling blocks should 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, that he should 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. And the apostle 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 in the sea, and it would obey you. But 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 he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me, until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink? He does not thank the slave because he did these things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which you are commanded, you say, we are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. This passage is a passage, I believe, that is describing for us what it's like to be a Christian, it's describing someone who's humble. If I were to put it into one sentence, I would put it this way, genuine humility is incompatible with self-righteousness. Now remember, Jesus has been on a trip from the north to the south, from Galilee going down towards jerusalem and he's visiting villages along the way he's being escorted by crowds of people wherever he goes his disciples are with him the religious leaders are there to dog his tracks and to dog his path and to try to bug him and upset him and all along the way he's teaching teaching and teaching uh... and so today he gets on this particular subject because he's going to tell us what really, what kind of lives we ought to live in terms of some of these key issues here of humility and forgiveness. We remember that James chapter four, verse six says that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We've heard it said oftentimes that God hates only the sin, but loves the sinner. And I kind of stumble a little bit at that, because I come to other verses like Proverbs chapter 16, verse 5, where it says, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. The word abomination means a thing that causes disgust or hatred. A thing that causes disgust or hatred. In other words, a proud person is a disgusting thing before God. A proud person, if you take that word abomination to its full meaning, means something that is someone that is hated by God. on one hand we say god loves the world and he does but yet we know that it is sinners themselves that ultimately pay the eternal price for their sin uh... we live in a day where people want to think that God's love is so wide and so forgiving that it wraps its arms around anything and everyone in one big, big giant hug. And God just takes everybody into his arms and gives everybody the biggest loving eternal hug forever. And that's not an accurate picture of God's love. Some people actually equate God or equate love with God. The Bible says God is love, but it doesn't say love is God. There's a slight difference there to say that God is love. That's one of his characteristics. But it's also in the framework of all the other characteristics that he has. He's a God of justice. He's a God of wrath. He's a God of holiness. He's a God of all of those things. God is opposed to the proud. The proud are an abomination to Him. It was pride that caused Satan to have a falling out with God. Pride was the root cause of his sin with God. It was pride that causes, the Bible says, that causes the wicked to reject God in Psalm chapter 10, verse 4. Or it was pride that caused King Uzziah to attempt to usurp the roles of the priests by burning incense. In Second Chronicles, we find King Uzziah wanted to become or took on the job of a priest and God judged him for it. No, you're a king. You stay in your lane, King Uzziah. Don't get in someone else's lane. That's for the priest. You're not the priest. King Uzziah said, no, I want to be a priest. And he began to do priest things and God judged him with leprosy. If you remember the story. uh... pride is the root of all of our sin uh... mary the mother of jesus declared she said in luke chapter one verse fifty one that god has done mighty deeds with his arm he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart and so Obviously, Jesus, when he deals with this subject of humility, he's talking specifically to his disciples here, as we're going to see, but it has a wider ramification to the religious leaders themselves, who are also listening in to this. uh... jesus again he is he has been center stage he has been the focus of everyone's mind as he travels from galilee down to jerusalem people are following him people are listening to him and uh... he addresses sometimes directly to his disciples sometimes he's talking directly to the religious leaders and i think we have a passage today while it's directed to the disciples obviously it's it goes beyond that to the religious leaders themselves. He's talking about them. We're going to see that. It kind of comes out in the passage, that he's talking about the pride and the attitudes of the religious leaders here in this passage. uh... as i began to study this passage i almost thought that i should have divided it up maybe into two messages because there's so much uh... material here but uh... i didn't do that and so we're going to go through this rather quickly this morning but bear in mind that there's a lot here that could we could be we could spend more time with and so as you have your notes there in your bulletin there are four points this morning four things that we learn about genuine humility four things that we learn about genuine humility and the first point this morning is that genuine humility avoids offending others. Genuine humility avoids offending others, and letter A under that is we see that the danger of being, there's a danger to being a sinful influence. Verse one, it says, and he said to his disciples, he's talking to his disciples now, And again, as we go through the text, these passages, these different chapters, Jesus is, sometimes He addresses the religious leaders specifically, sometimes He's addressing His disciples specifically. Here He addresses His disciples specifically, verse 1, and He says to them, it is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come. He's talking about something called stumbling blocks. What's a stumbling block? Well, the Greek word, interesting enough, is skandalon. You hear the word scandal. in that word, skandalon, stumbling blocks. Someone who has been hit with a stumbling block has been scandalized because they have been somehow offended by somebody. And Jesus says here in this verse, it is inevitable. The text in the Greek here literally suggests that it's impossible that stumbling blocks not come. You could even translate it that way, it's impossible for stumbling blocks not to come. a stumbling block is something that causes an offense and we all at some point in time we offend one another but of course now sometimes just the preaching of God's word is an offense to some people and if people are offended because you share the scripture with them that's that's one thing that's a thing not to be ashamed of but it's the other kinds of offenses that we that we give to people that we need to avoid here. And he says there in verse one, but woe to him through whom they come. Now, I think in the context here, the warning is primarily directed to the religious leaders. That's my uh... take here is that he's in a sense addressing this thought about the religious leaders to the disciples because the religious leaders at that time were causing stumbling to the masses as a whole as they kept saying that jesus is not the messiah or jesus is of the devil you know he he's empowered by the devil he's he's not the one And they belittled Christ. They did whatever they could to stop people from embracing Him and following Him. And they tried to do that to people. Each of us, though, can be a stumbling block as well. as I look at this this is very reflexive it's addressed to the disciples about the religious leaders but it has a wider understanding as well because for instance even believers can as believers we cause stumbling amongst ourselves for instance over in romans chapter fourteen the apostle paul on this same subject says therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. He's talking to believers here. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." Now, what's he talking about here? He's talking about in the context of the Romans, there were people, believers in that day, who had no problem going down to a local butcher's store that sold meat from cattle or some critter that had been sacrificed to a pagan god. So because the meat was down there, it was cheaper, I might go down there and buy that meat. And it was good meat, even though that critter had been given up to a pagan god. The meat's being sold. There's nothing wrong with me eating that meat. A pagan god is nothing. I can eat that hamburger from that cow that was sacrificed to some stupid non-existent god. But see, there would be other Christians who'd say, Dave, you ate meat from that butcher shop that sacrificed those. He would be offended that I ate meat from that particular butcher shop. And so you have one person who thinks it's okay, and another person says, no, it's not okay, it's wrong. And so two believers, and so Paul says, if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. I should not cause a brother to stumble by him seeing me eat food that had been sacrificed to some non-existent pagan god." By the way, all pagan gods are non-existent. There's not one that exists. So, and then Paul goes on to say, therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. Don't be an offense to a brother. He can't handle you eating that meat. Don't cause him to stumble. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. for he who is in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another." So here's a case where believers can be a stumbling block to one another. We could be stumbling, I don't want to do things, and there are other issues like this in the Christian world. It used to be that, and this is not so much true today, back in, say, 50, 60, 70 years ago, some people thought Christians shouldn't play sports on Sunday. Have you heard that before? And if you did, you caused an offense to those who thought that was wrong. Or there are other Christians who thought that the long hair over the ear was an offense. If I had my hair over my ear, which I did in high school, that would be an offense to some Christians. Or, I knew a guy, actually the man who led me to Christ, was offended by a deck of playing cards. And there was one time, I was down at a coffee shop with some friends, and I was teaching them how to play one of the games of poker, I'm not sure which poker game it was. This is at a coffee shop, we're just sitting there having coffee, we're having fun together, and somebody just by chance happened to share with Joe, this friend of mine who was the man who led me to Christ, that Dave had a deck of cards and was teaching others how to play poker, but it was just in fun, we weren't betting anything, And he hit the roof, because for Joe, a deck of cards was, you know, was like the joker of the deck, resembled Christ, and the king was Joseph, and the queen was, and he had this idea that a deck of cards was a slam against Christianity. And therefore, a deck of cards is wrong. Well, I never thought of it that way. It was just a deck of cards. and I could have fun with and I still could and he brought me into his office because he was one of the teachers at the small college where I taught and he chewed me up one side and down the other because of a deck of cards I promised him I would never do that again like that I didn't promise him that I wouldn't ever use cards again but I in that in a public way I was teaching people how to play poker but that wasn't his beef his whole beef was the deck of cards that was an offense to him. And I loved him. And I didn't want to break his heart in that way. I caused him to stumble, even though for me it wasn't a big deal to me. But it was to him. Therefore, it became a big deal to me out of love. Other passages of Scripture, for instance, Paul tells the Jews, he says, the name of God is blasphemy among the Gentiles because of it. He said that to the Jews in Romans chapter 2. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32, Paul says, give no offense either to the Jews or the Greeks or the Church of God. We are not to be offense to any man, whether they are Jews, Greeks or the Church of God. By the way, that verse basically breaks all of humanity down into three categories. You're either a Jew, you're a Gentile or Greek, Greek here means like a Gentile person, or you're part of the church of God. There are three categories any human being in the entire world can be in. He's either a Jew, Gentile, or he's part of the church of God, which is a separate category to Jew and Gentile in a sense. In a sense, being part of Christ, there are some people who argue that in a sense we are a We are different. Some people even say we're like a new race. That's probably going too far. But we're distinct from Jews and Gentiles. We are the church. We are the body of Christ. Three categories. And we are not to give an offense to anybody as believers. Jew, Greeks, or Jew, Gentiles, or other Christians. Or over in Romans chapter 12, there's another place. Paul says, be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own vengeance, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if he is thirsty, give him to drink. For in doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." In other words, we are not to bring an offense to anyone as believers, whether they are Christian or non-Christian. But here in the context, Jesus says that the Pharisees, He says, woe to those who bring an offense. And I think in the back of his mind, he's thinking mostly of the Pharisees at this point, the religious leaders who would bring an offense to the disciples and followers of Christ by demeaning Christ and demeaning his ministry and who he was. So that, first of all, is the danger of being a sinful influence. Don't be a sinful influence. Do not be a sinful influence. That's letter A under that point. But the second point under this first major point is the dread of being a sinful influence. Look what he says in verse two. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea then he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. The little ones here are a reference to believers. That's why I'm saying he's talking about the religious leaders here who cause one of these little ones, believers, to stumble. The passage, I think, again, is primarily aimed at unbelieving Pharisees who cause people to stumble by spreading lies about Jesus. but it has a broader application to all of us is what I'm trying to say. There are things that we need to remember before we do certain things. You know, each of us need to take, by the way, the same guy who had that problem with the deck of cards gave me, gave his congregation, he was the pastor that I was saved under as well, He mentioned, and I have these written in my Bible, he gave us six guidelines for Christian liberty. I'm going to give these to you. These are questions that you should ask yourself before you do anything. I have three here, and if you want these, I can give them to you later. And I have three more on the next slide. But these are questions. Like, for instance, before you do any course of action, ask yourself, will my choice, or excuse me, will my course of action edify? Because Romans 14 says we need to do the things that edify one another. Will my course of action edify? Whatever it may be, ask yourself that question. Or secondly, how will it affect my brother? How will it affect my brother? Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32, it says this, real quick here, give no offense to, what I already said before, give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or the church of God. We are not to give an offense to, so will my, how will it affect my brother or even those who are not my brother? They're just, they're pagans. Thirdly, what is the source of this desire? Is it of the spirit or the flesh? Galatians chapter 5 talks about the differences between that which is of the spirit and that which is of the flesh. Or here's another question. Why do I want to do this thing? Well, 1 Corinthians 10.31 says, whatever you do, whatever you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31. I should do everything I do, whether it's playing golf, watching a movie, playing a game, eating good food. Whatever I do, I should be doing for the glory of God. Fifthly, does God's word sanction or condemn this action? You know, does God's word condemn a particular action? Does God's word condemn, back in Paul's day, the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols? Well, no, it does not. I could, if I lived in the first century, I could eat hamburger that had been from an animal that had been sacrificed to a pagan. Especially I would eat it if it was at a cheaper price than I could get hamburger from somewhere else. See, I would buy the cheaper, if it's still good, I would buy the cheaper stuff, right? You would too. Does this course of action violate 1 Corinthians 6, 19, and 20, which says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? if a particular thing that you're doing violates the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is your body, then you should not do it as well, right? So these are just some principles I'm laying out, all going back to the text here, all in the name of not being a stumbling block to others. Doing the things that edify and build up, whether they are Christian or non-Christian, genuine humility does that. It wants the best, it seeks the best for others. But secondly here, moving right along here, genuine humility absolves, and what I mean by that, forgives. I had to have a letter A there, you understand. Genuine humility absolves or forgives offenses by others. Look at verses three and four, and we find letter A here, the opportunities for the righteous. Verse three, be on your guard if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if we repent, forgive him. He's talking to, again, believers on this. If your brother sins, rebuke him. Be on your guard, he says. Be aware of what's going on. There must be a commitment to righteousness that not only monitors one's own conduct, but to help those others who have stumbled to correct their conduct. By the way, Galatians 6, verse 1 says, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore. By the way, that Greek word for restore there means to set a broken bone. That's the meaning behind the word restore there. It has a medical background, to set a bone straight, a bone that had been broken to reset it. If you had a broken arm like I did in fifth grade, the doctor took my arm and pulled it straight. That arm looked like the letter Z and then he pulled it straight and it looked normal, although it still hurt. Restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. We need to build up one another, to lovingly confront others, looking to ourselves so that we too aren't tempted. Over in Proverbs chapter 19, there's a little reminder here that at the latter part of the verse, it says, forget the first part for a second, it is a man's glory to overlook a transgression. Sometimes people come to me, or I've had situations where somebody has offended me or did something that wasn't the nicest thing to do. It was actually an offense. The first choice that you and I have, if you feel like you've been offended, the first thing you can do is say, well, can I simply overlook it? Someone has offended you. Do you have to make a big deal about it? Do you have to go to them? Or can you say, I can overlook that? Because the Bible says it is to your glory that you overlook a sin. Now, there are some sins that are not easily overlooked. Some sins are. Probably most of them that are committed against you as an offense probably can be overlooked. I know my wife overlooks a lot of sins that I commit against her. She just doesn't say much, even though I have offended her by something that I've said or something, the way I've behaved, and it happens too frequently. But sometimes it's just better not to say anything. But then on the other times, Proverbs tells us in Proverbs 27, better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. What does that mean? Well, sometimes we think, well, it's just easier to pretend that I love, love, love, when inside I'm not really thinking that way. And it's really important to know that open rebuke is better than love that is concealed you know you you you say you love someone uh... but open rebuke is a much better thing if it's really required than simply saying i love you and just ignoring something an issue that so that's also true i have been confronted by people rebuked by people for something that I have done that was wrong, and they were right to rebuke me. And they rebuked me because they weren't going to conceal their love. They rebuked me because they loved me. Open rebuke is better than love that is concealed. Open rebuke is an act of love. Or it can be. Hopefully it is. Sometimes it might not be. That's true as well. By the way, the word rebuke, going back to your text in Luke 17, describes the word there, the Greek word is epitomeo, which means to express a strong disapproval for someone, to reprove them, to censor them, to speak seriously, to warn someone. And so the humility of a brother will be seen in what he is confronted about when he is confronted by his sin. Your humility, might have to reach out in a very loving way to confront somebody over their sin. And there are some sins, if you go back to the text, that can only be forgiven by a series of repentances. It says there in verse 3, and if he repents, forgive him. Verse four, and if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, I repent, forgive him. There are some sins, I know of people who have had gossips said about them like in a church. People have claimed things and they get on their phones and they start talking about so and so and word spreads, untrue things about a particular person. and then that person who spreads that gossip and those lies is confronted, that person has done a very grievous thing and needs to publicly repent of that. That is not something that can be simply overlooked a la Proverbs 19.11. That has to be confronted. If someone has spread lies about you in a setting of a church or in some public way, that person needs to come and repent. And so the text says here in verse three, if he repents, forgive him. And even if he does it seven times a day and returns to you seven times a day, you forgive him. In other words, even if he keeps doing it and says, I repent, you have to forgive. You have to forgive. Sometimes we like to think, well, I'll only forgive if you guarantee me you'll never do it again. You can't do that. You can't say, I'll only forgive if you can assure me that you will never do it again. You can't do that. If he repents, you forgive. You cannot ask for a guarantee from the offending person that you'll never do it, because he probably will. But if he has repented, you forgive him, even if he does it seven times a day. See, that is shocking to people, because if he does it to me once, I won't forgive him, even if he guarantees it. See, that's a wrong attitude for a Christian, too, because you have been forgiven far more from Christ. He has forgiven us far more of a greater crimes that we've committed against Him than that person who has offended you has committed against you. What Christ has forgiven us ought to make us more open to forgive any sin against us, right? And I don't put any guarantees on that. Now, By the way, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Remember that. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. A friend comes and wants to confront and to bring something to rightness, to correctness, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Now, scripture seems to indicate two senses to forgiveness. We ought to always forgive everybody, even if they haven't repented. that person who's spread the gossip about you in a public way still needs to be forgiven. But in a public way, there needs to be what, so there's positional forgiveness. I think that's always, you do that only for your own sanity. I can't harbor up offenses in my heart. Someone so offended me, someone so offended me, and I just bear those offenses and I never forgive. That's gonna eat away at me like cancer. And so we do forgive, but there's also a sense, what one writer said, I just forgot the book that it was in, it's called Transactional Forgiveness. He says, this forgiveness is conditioned on the repentance of the offender. In other words, when there has been a serious offense, it would not be appropriate to grant forgiveness until the offender has repented. that's the whole point of matthew eighteen where it says if someone has done something wrong you take one or two with you and you go through the process of what's called church discipline in matthew chapter eighteen verses sixteen uh... you know if your brother has sinned matthew eighteen fifteen but if he Verse 15 says, if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private, and if he listens to you, you have won your brother. Okay, so you go to him that level, but if he doesn't do that, then you take one or two others who are also aware of this, and if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. You're trying to build a case so that a person repents, and then can be received back into the fellowship. that's the whole point there sometimes some offenses are so great that they require what has been called transactional forgiveness i hope you kind of we all need to remember be kind hearted to one another forgiving and tender hearted forgiving each other just as god and christ also has forgiven you we've been forgiven far more from christ than any offense that could ever be done against you or me. So, these are some basic things to remember, is that forgiveness can be something we just, we grant immediately, and we should grant it in an immediate way, but some forgivenesses require repentance, because the offense is so great a person needs, for his own good, needs to be confronted. And we must encourage him to repent so that the issue can be dealt with in that way. Sometimes you can simply overlook it, Proverbs 19.11, but sometimes it has to be dealt much more surgically and much more confrontationally. I know I'm going over this really quickly this morning, and I'll come back to these themes again later, but let's go to our So we saw in verse 3 the opportunities for the righteous the opportunities to rebuke those who have, to rebuke and to forgive. And then we see in verse four, the obligations of the righteous to forgive even seven times a day if a person sins against you. That's an obligation that you have. To forgive it to forgive when he repents you forgive you don't place any guarantees on it But you have to guarantee you'll never do this again in order for me to forgive, you know You forgive when he repents and if he does it seven times a day you forgive and repent we forgive repent Or you repent and you forgive you repent and you forgive you do that. It's an obligation that you have quickly here Let's get me through some of this. Thirdly, genuine humility acknowledges one's own inadequacies. Look at verses five and six. We find that in verse five we have the confession of inadequacy. The disciples having heard this, look at verse five, and the apostles said, the disciples said, sometimes here they're called apostles, said to the Lord, increase our faith. They say, this is, how could anyone do what's required in verses one through four? This is too much. Lord, you need to increase our faith. We can't do that. And it reminds me, I can't live the Christian life on my own. I can't do these things apart from some kind of spiritual empowerment. How can I live this way? It's a confession of inadequacy. But I'm reminded in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 says now unto him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. There is a power that works within us, a power to do exceedingly abundantly all that we even think that we can do. This is the, verse five is a confession of inadequacy in ourselves. And so Jesus then in verse, in letter B, talks about the power of faith. Having confessed their inadequacy, Jesus says to them, verse six, and the Lord said, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea and it will obey you. He's talking about something that's impossible He's talking about, he says, faith makes things that seem to be impossible possible. Faith makes things that seem impossible possible. If you have faith is as small as the smallest known seed in that day, as small as a mustard seed, there are seeds that are smaller than a mustard seed, but in that day, a mustard seed was considered the smallest of seeds. and you could say to this tree. On another occasion, Jesus said, you could say to this mountain, be removed, and it would obey you. Now, some prosperity preachers like to take that far, too far, because Jesus is speaking allegorically here. He's speaking in pictures. He's not literally saying that I have the power to take the Rocky Mountains and I'm gonna move them to Kansas. He's not saying I can take that big tree in my front yard and I can move it across the street by faith. He's not saying that. What he's saying in pictorial form is that faith can do powerful things. He's not, because by the way, if I wanted the mountains moved to Kansas and say you want them to be moved to Oklahoma, there's gonna be a lot of confusion and a lot, it just don't work. My wife wants him in Oklahoma, I want him in Kansas, and there's a conflict, and he goes back. No, see, that's not what he's saying. That's to trivialize what he's saying. He is saying faith is a powerful thing. So if you have faith as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted, and it would obey you. That's the power of faith. Genuine humility acknowledges one's own inadequacy, but it also acknowledges that there is a power to believing in the living God and in his word. So genuine humility accepts that and acknowledges that. Again, Ephesians 3.20, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. Point number four this morning. genuine humility alleviates or erases one's own pride, verses seven through 10. And this won't take too long this morning, but you see there in verses seven through nine, you find the requirement regarding responsibilities. Look at verses seven through nine. But 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 he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?" In other words, Jesus is confronting self-righteousness by providing this analogy of a master-slave relationship. The slave himself is not going to think it rude for the master to expect him to do his duties until, you know, finish his duties to the master before he takes care of his own needs. That's a normal master-slave relationship. The slave would have expected that he would have to do that for his master. The slave expects that, the master expects that. That's the requirement regarding responsibilities. The slave has a responsibility to the master. And then you come to verse 10, you have the repudiation or the rejection of recognition because Jesus summarizes it all off in verse 10. 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. In other words, when I do whatever I do in the Christian life, uh... is not something that i should expect to be applauded for uh... and we we do this here we want to encourage one another and i'm thankful for you know for any things encouraging remarks that people say to me but then when i think about it i'm thinking well i'm glad that that person said that but i'm only doing what i'm supposed to be doing i'm only doing you know if i go out and witness to somebody if i give a particular good message if i if i have a particular good counseling session with someone that i'm only doing what i'm supposed to be doing to give me accolades for that which i'm supposed to be doing is a little bit uncomfortable because I'm simply a slave. You're simply a slave. Whatever you are gifted to do, and you do those things for the Lord, you are simply serving the master. MacArthur wrote this, I thought this was really good. He said, humble people reject honor. They understand that nothing they do for God makes him indebted to them. Their service to Him is their duty, and less than He deserves. And no matter what they do, they are unworthy of the unmerited eternal blessings He graciously grants them. You are, I am a slave of the master. And even when we do all the things which we are commanded to do, we are unworthy slaves. I love this graphic here. So too, when you have done all that you were commanded, say we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. well i just bring a close here going a little long this morning i knew i probably would be because this is such a powerful passage a big passage i had so much on as i began to study it again as i had so much in it that i i've left unsaid But I want you to walk away with some thoughts here. Number one, Christ-like humility, when we have that, enables us to prefer others before ourselves. If you are humble before Christ, you can actually begin to prefer other people over yourself. Don't look at me. Don't look at what I've done. Don't think I'm the greatest. Give preference to someone else. Number two, actively, by God's grace, forgive others even before they ask. Never refuse reconciliation. When a person repents or says, you know, I was wrong to do that to you, never be reluctant to accept their request for forgiveness, their repentance. Don't reject their repentance. Don't put guarantees on repentance. Well, I'll watch you for the next two years and make sure you don't do it again before I actually forgive you. If you do that, then you don't understand forgiveness. Number three, fulfilling Christ's commands is achievable through his strength. I can't live the Christian life. I can't do these things in my own strength. It's impossible for me to live the Christian life. Just understand that. You're gonna fall. You're gonna rise and you're gonna fall. You're gonna rise and you're gonna fall. You're gonna do right, you're gonna do wrong. But when I do wrong, and I do wrong a lot with my tongue or with my attitude. I have to say, that was wrong, that was wrong, Lord, please forgive me, or Doug, forgive me, or Phyllis, forgive me, or whoever, forgive me, that was wrong for me to have had that attitude. And lastly, his righteousness is available to anyone who humbles himself and calls upon the Lord Jesus for salvation. If you are here and you are without the righteousness that is from Christ, you will not make it to heaven. Only righteous people go to heaven. Perfect people go to heaven. Good people do not go to heaven. Hell's gonna be filled with lots and lots of good people. They were good people, but they didn't have the righteousness of Christ, and therefore they spend eternity in hell, even though they were good people. Good people Go to hell. Perfect people in Christ go to heaven. You need, and I need, the righteousness that is only from Christ. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, thank you for these moments together. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. We pray these things in Jesus' name.