← ArchiveLife-Money-JoySunday, September 18, 2016DateSeptember 18, 2016Speaker—TextLuke 19Passages in this sermonLuke 193:53Luke 19:124:21Philippians 310:511 John 3:114:02Romans 1214:14Romans 12:3014:24Romans 5:840:13TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00we will begin a new series called Graceonomics. Lord, don't give us wisdom for the economy. Give us wisdom about your grace, and may your grace change the way we live, change the way we use our time and our talents for your glory and for your honor. So before we look at God's Word, I want you to dream with me this morning and imagine this happening. You're welcome to close0:29your eyes if you want to. You can leave them open also. Imagine that we live in a far, far, far away land. Let's call it Alabama. And in the land that I am now the king of what we'll call the town Moody. I know that's not a big stretch, but just work with me. And we have all moved into this far distant land. And what I have done as king, I only have one year left in my reign,0:57so I have given you all $10 million each. Right? You buy all the crimson tie gear you want. $10 million. But here is now the catch. After my reign ends, my rent that I paid to another nation is going to expire, and every cent that you have is worthless. So you have $10 million, you have a year1:24to spend it, or it will be worthless. Or every cent that you spend, you can convert to another currency backed by the new nation, and you can carry it forward. So you understand where our imaginative world. Now we live in Alabama and live in a town called Moody, and you have $10 million. You can1:50keep it and spend it on yourself, but everything you spend on yourself in a year will be burned up, it'll be consumed. Or you can use it for the new kingdom, the new empire that's coming, and every cent that you give to the new empire, you will carry it with you. Not just for a year, but for eternity. Now if that was reality, starting today, what would most of you go do? You would be consumed with,2:14what can I do to put my treasure that it will last more than this year? So if you buy a home tomorrow, in a year it will be no more. If you buy a car, it will be no more. Anything you do will be no more in a year, or you can put everything to the new kingdom. Most of you would say, well, I would be a fool to spend everything on me today. And yet, this is exactly what God's Word teaches.2:40That when I die, nothing will be carried with me, but I can send it ahead, and God will turn my earthly treasure into eternal crowns and eternal glory. So may we be people with perspective and say, God, give us understanding about the economy. Give us understanding about grace. So what is economy? It is the branch of study worried about production, consumption, and legacy. Production, consumption,3:09and legacy. So I'm going to work that way I can consume, and that way I can pass it on. And most of us are somewhere on that spectrum. Some of you are working, some of you are consuming, some of you are passing it on. Some of you are just waiting, thinking, Lord, let someone pass something to me. But yet, we must be people that say this as Christ followers. God, give us understanding about grace,3:36that we may have a deep spiritual understanding about what my treasure truly means. So we're going to begin the next four weeks with the parable. You might know it as a parable of the talents, but what we see in Luke 19, the parable of the 10 minas. Not minos, not the little fish that swim. Minas, M-I-N-A-S. So turn with me to Luke chapter 19, that God may give us grace to abound4:00and to transfer grace to others. Graceonomics 101.4:21Luke 19:12. "Therefore, Jesus said, 'A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called 10 of his servants, delivered to them 10 minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We will not have this man4:43to reign over us.'" Let's pray. "Father, your grace is sufficient for us." And Lord, we come to you this morning admitting that we are sometimes people consumed with the here and now. Knowing that the treasures that I treasure in my life today, Lord, will not last for eternity.5:08And Lord, if we have focused or if we have desired the wrong things, Lord, we are sorry. Lord, change our hearts. Father, give us a spiritual understanding to recognize that you have complete authority and dominion over our lives. And Lord, give us spiritual eyes to see that we will be held accountable for the way we live, the way we spend, and the way we love others.5:35Father, we thank you for the glorious day that one day we will see you face-to-face. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Well, we see in Luke this parable. And then Luke says actually that he gave the parable because he is nearing Jerusalem. So Jesus is entering a time of his life that's difficult. And this is the last parable that Jesus utters before the triumphal entry.6:03So get the picture. Jesus is giving you this word story to teach you a theological truth before he's ushered into Jerusalem and the world says, "Yeah, the king is here." And then the true king comes and they kill him. So how important then must this truth be that Jesus would hold this to the end of his ministry?6:26So what's Jesus trying to show us? That grace is important. That the way we live is important. That the way we treasure things in our life is important. Let's read it verse 12. "Therefore he said a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom to return. And he gave to his 10 servants and delivered to them 10 minas."6:52Here's spiritual foundation number one for Grace Anomics 101. And it's a simple word. It's called authority. Authority. Jesus Christ has authority. And if we understand that truth that he's teaching here, our lives will be radically different. Jesus has authority. The right to give orders, to make decisions, and to enforce obedience.7:17Now there are times in our life where we don't have to be forced to obey because we see the grace of Jesus us so freely offered and we want to obey. There's some times in our life that some of us need to be corrected with the rod. So you will obey. In either case, Jesus Christ has authority. And why is this important? Because Jesus is deepening our faith and vividly displaying through this parable that the kingdom is received at the resurrection.7:45That the kingdom is received at the resurrection. You say, well, why does that matter? We're talking about economics. No, we're talking about Grace Anomics. Why does that matter? Look at verse 12. "Therefore he said, a certain nobleman went into a far country." So who's a nobleman? Jesus Christ. He went into a far country to do what?8:12To receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So here's why Jesus is telling the story. And here's why he uses the words that he does. Jesus does not die on the cross, rise again, ascend into heaven, and he's now waiting for the kingdom to come. What Luke reminds us that when Jesus dies on the cross and rises again, at that moment, Jesus has the keys to the kingdom.8:38So we're not serving a king that's somewhere on hiatus. He's absent. And when he returns, we can say, thank God. I thought you were lost. Now you have the kingdom. What does Luke say about this? He went to a far country to receive for himself. As he leaves, he has already received the kingdom. So if you struggle and you say, I don't see Christ working in my life. Why is the world like it is?9:07Why am I struggling? Lord, give me, help me. I need your grace. I need your mercy. Lord, I need you to return. That way I would receive your kingdom. Jesus says, no, the kingdom is mine today. Jesus has authority in our life right now as I speak. He's not waiting for our permission. He's not waiting to return to find the kingdom left for him.9:33Jesus has complete authority in our lives. He is not waiting for the kingdom and the single act of the resurrection gives him authority. This is why this truth is so liberating for us. Because oftentimes as Christians, we can worry and we live as if the kingdom has not yet come. And so pastor, what does that look like? I'll give you a visible representation. Sometimes we walk around like this, right?10:02We know that God will restore to us the joy of his salvation. Lord, renew to me your salvation every morning. And yet we walk around like this. I have faith in Jesus. And you say, well, I would never do that. We do. Maybe that's not how we look. But the way that we spend, the way that we love, the way that we deepen ourselves into the grace of Jesus, that's the way we live. And I just want to remind you this morning that God's kingdom is now.10:31We should be people that live in the shadow of the resurrection, knowing that Jesus is not coming to return to find the kingdom. The kingdom is his and he will return. He has complete authority in our life. This is why Paul can say in Philippians three, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed in his death.10:51The resurrection shows that Jesus has authority. He has authority. The second truth we see, Grace Anomics 101, is that because he has authority, look at verse 13. Because of the authority of the resurrection, verse 13, we see that Jesus called his servants and delivered to them 10 minas and said to them, do business till I come.11:18Here's a truth we need to recognize. The king does not leave his servants empty handed. The king does not leave his servants empty handed. Why is that important? Because if I follow Jesus Christ, then I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Just hold out your hands right now. And look, he will not leave us empty handed.11:47What a great truth that is. We say my hands empty. No, we are filled with the knowledge of his grace and his power. Now, literally, these servants were filled with what? 10 minas. That's about $15,000 per minna. 10 minas times 10 is $150,000. So the servant leaves them something. God never leaves his children empty handed. Yeah, it reminds me of my grandmother.12:15When I was young, we would always go to our grandmother's house in Laurel, Mississippi. And it would never fail. I would go in her house and she would have two things. She would have a bowl. Actually, it wasn't a little bowl. It's a little jar with a lid on it of Hershey kisses. Never failed. She always had Hershey kisses and she always has around the house, peppermints.12:38So those are the two things that my grandmother always, my dad's mom always has. And even today, when we go to visit my grandmother, the first thing my son, who is four, does, he runs into the, I call it the museum room. It's the room that you don't go in unless you want to feel the wrath. Right? You go in there Christmas Eve and you go in there Thanksgiving, but you don't eat in there unless you confuse that.13:06And she would run in that museum room and there in that jar, it's a little white jar with a lid with a little ball on the top. He would open it and there in that jar are peppermints. My grandmother never left us empty handed when it came to sweets. And that was just a small token of saying, you know what, not only do I love you, but I prepared for you.13:31And even today, Eli loves peppermints. Every time we walk in the church, he knows the peppermints are stashed up there somewhere. And I think that's because of my grandmother's influence in his life. He knows that when we go to Laurel, Mississippi, he will never be empty handed. We need to understand that truth as believers, that Jesus never leaves you empty handed. And you say, well, pastor, prove it to me.13:59I'm glad you said that. 1 John 3:1, "Beloved, what manner the love of the Father has bestowed on us, given to us, given to us, that we might be called children of the Most High." Romans 12. Paul says, "Having then gifts." What are gifts? Things that are given to us. According to the grace that is given, let us use them. Romans 12:30, "Now if God clothes," sorry, this is Matthew, "If God clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,14:24He will not more clothe you, O you of little faith." Over and over again, Jesus tells us, "Look, if you follow me, if you are my child, I will not leave you empty handed." And we often struggle. We say, "God, I can't give you, I can't serve you because I'm worried about myself."14:50And God says, "Josh, you can't out give me." And even if you could, I still will not leave you empty handed. Why? Because everything in my world is under the authority of Jesus Christ. Dear friend, Jesus will not leave you empty handed. Because He loves you. He cares for you. We also see this. Not only is the kingdom His, not only will He not leave us empty handed, verse 13.15:20But now, He says, "Do business till I come." Do business till I come. God gives to us, He will not leave you empty handed. He gives to you so now that we can earn a profit. And you're thinking, "I like where this is going." So pastor, if I give to the Lord, then I get more. Yes, hold that thought though. Because flesh in us says, "Well, I'm going to give to the Lord so I will get more."15:50So we give out of selfish motives, don't we? If we're honest. So Lord, you say that, you know, bring the tithes to the storehouse and you will overflow on us. We'll hold that sermon till later. But God gives to us that we may earn. This word "do business" actually means earn, make a profit. The king expects his servants to make money in his absence. So God gives to us, He gives treasure, He gives gifts that we may use for the kingdom.16:20Not use for me. So when I use what God has given only on me, then I have not turned a profit in grace. I have been selfish. Does that mean I let my family starve and go homeless? No, God has given me a desire as a man to protect and provide for my family. That is a principle of being a man. And I know our world struggles with that.16:50But man, we are to provide, we are to love, not just physically, but more so spiritually. But God says, "I have given that you may turn a profit." God wants us to invest in mutual funds. Not the ones on the stock exchange, but in the world. That we are to give, that way the mutual love of each other may increase. Are you someone who gives and says, "Lord, I want to give for you."17:16He says, "I have given you 10 minutes that you may do business." So are you doing the Lord's business in your life? Are we doing the Lord's business? Say, "God, I want to earn a profit." Where is that profit? It might be in heaven as we are going to see. God, let me not treasure things so much that I lose treasure in heaven. God, let me earn a profit in grace, not just dollars.17:42Because grace is so much infinitely more worthy than the mighty dollar. Lord, give us understanding. We also see this about His authority. We see that everything that we have in our lives belongs to the King. Some of you need to hear that again, right? Everything that you have belongs to the King. Look at this parable. What do the servants have?18:11In verse 13, they have 10 minutes. Who gave them the menace? The King, right? The nobleman. So is there anything that these servants have in this parable that is not given to them by the nobleman? No is the right answer. So what is Jesus telling us? Jesus is saying that, Josh, everything you have in your life is given by me. On the righteous and the wicked alike.18:39You say, well, how? Pastor, prove that. There's something called common grace. That when I was living in my sin, God still gave me breaths. And I woke up this morning. I did not deserve that. There's nothing that I have done in my life to deserve today. And he said, well, you're a pastor. No. There's nothing that I have done in my life that I deserve life because I have lived in rebellion against the King of Kings.19:02Do you know why I'm standing here before you right now? Because of his grace. And even the breath I'm using, God has given me. So if you're here today, you say, I don't believe in God. My spouse drug me here. My mom drug me to the place. And I'm sitting here like this. The fact that you can fold your arms and frown your face is given energy by the Lord you don't even acknowledge right now.19:29Think about that. That is grace. So everything that I have is given by God. And here's why that thought frees us up. The thought that everything that I own belongs to the King. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, a wonderful evangelist in the United Kingdom. One day got a call at a revival and said, John, your house is on fire.19:58And it is burned to the ground. Listen to John Wesley's response. He replied, no, it hasn't because I don't own a house. He said, the one I have been living in belongs to the Lord. And if it is burned down, that is one less responsibility for me to worry about. And you say, well, I can't believe he did that.20:25What does John Wesley understand that sometimes we struggle with? He understood that everything he had belonged to the Lord. And that is freeing. So if a tornado destroys my home and my world is not destroyed, I can say, Lord, you sent that tornado that destroyed your house. You might want to do something with it. And everything I have is his. And there is freedom in knowing that he has complete authority in my life.20:54That is a biblical, spiritual concept of his grace in our economy. And if you don't understand that, you will never live in freedom that we should have. God, everything that we have is yours. May that be the heartbeat of our prayer. Here is the second spiritual principle we see. One, God is in complete authority. Everything I have, everything I own is not mine.21:21I am renting from the great landlord. And Lord, if you take it away, may I honor you. And Lord, if you want me to evacuate this premises, Lord, may I honor you. And Lord, if you want me to give it and serve you, may I honor you. But here is the second thing that we see in this parable. Look at verse 14. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying,21:47we will not have this man to reign over us. And so it was that when he returned. Now, just stop there mentally. If you have a highlighter, if you want to circle this, you are free to circle this in your Bible. Jesus will return. He died and as he predicted, he rose again. And as he predicted, he sent it into heaven and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father right now.22:14And as he predicted and promised, he will return. And you say, well, pastor, I like the sound of that. I'm ready. I'm ready. One day he's coming. Oh, glorious day. Let's go. Look at verse 15. It was when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded his servants to whom he had given money to be called to him that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.22:34God gives to test our faithfulness.22:53God gives to test our faithfulness. God gives to test our faithfulness.23:22That's what the manna represents. That God gives us that he says, Josh, what are you going to do with this? Let me just say this as we work through the series. God does not need my money. God does not need my stuff. The creator of the universe doesn't need my little kingdom that I've created. Let that sink in. He has authority. So I'm down here busy making my little home, my little authority.23:50I'm like, Lord, look what I've done for you. And I think sometimes he laughs at us. That when I spoke, light came into existence. When you're mowing your grass, why do you think it grows, pastor? Because I sent the light to make it grow. And God reminds us, but I've given you to test your faith. I've given you to test your faith. Randy Alcorn said this, God sees our faith and our finances as inseparable.24:19God sees our faith and our finances as inseparable. I'm weird in a lot of ways. You don't have to respond to that, by the way. But one thing that I noticed just early in my life that I enjoyed test. Some of you are shaking your head thinking, you know, I knew there was something about him. And, you know, personally for me, I was always a good test taker.24:48But I think my understanding and realization of a test helped take the nervous energy away. Some people get worked up because they take tests and think, well, I could fill this. It's not going to go well. But my understanding of tests, even from a child, was this. You know, I get a chance to prove myself. For me, a test has always been, I get to prove myself. And there are times that I have proved myself incapable.25:13Right? You know, there are times. I remember going home in third grade. And I had a C on my report card. The only C I think I've ever had in my life, it was in handwriting. And I brought it home to my mom and said, Mom, this is it. This is the ceiling. It's not getting any better. And it hasn't. I laugh because Luke went and snuck in my office a couple weeks ago and found my notepad.25:41And I had about half my notepad filled with notes. And on the bottom of my notepad, I see these letters in a five-year-old's handwriting, L-U-K-E. And I walked into Brad's office and said, Brad, why did you let your son in my office? And my second response is, the sad thing is, I don't know where my handwriting begins and his starts. Ryan ends and his starts. Really, it's that bad. I failed the test of handwriting.26:11And for my third grade teacher, if you ever watched this back, I think Ms. Thompson, I'm sorry, you tried. It had nothing to do with your teaching abilities. But I felt like, Lord, this test is a chance for me to prove myself. And if we have that understanding about our talents and our time and our treasures, I think the way we live will be radically different. That if we say, Lord, you have given me 10 minutes, 10 talents, and Lord, you are testing me.26:37And Father, give me the strength that I may not pass, or I may not fail this test. The things that you have in your life are a test. And glory be to God, he gives us the grace to pass the test. He doesn't give us a test that we will fail. He says, you have the opportunity to find yourself worthy. We are held account of what we are given.27:06Spiritual truth number two, accountability. Lord, let us pass the test. What we also see about accountability is this in verse 17. To the first servant who said, "Master, your minute has earned 10 minutes." In verse 16, he said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Because you are faithful in a very little, you have authority over 10 cities."27:32Here's the spiritual truth about accountability. That what you have is a test of your faithfulness. Are you passing the test this morning? But the second thing we see is, God rewards faithfulness. God rewards your faithfulness. Look at verse 17. "You are faithful in very little." $150,000, by the way. And the noble says, "It's nothing.28:00It's pocket change." "Therefore, you will have authority over 10 cities." Now before you ask, so you say, "I get to 10 cities in heaven." I don't know what that looks like. I don't. But I do know this over and over in the Bible. We see that God rewards our faithfulness. That there is no sacrifice that you make here on earth that will not be noticed in heaven. What a wonderful thought that is. The Lord, I can sacrifice for you. And Lord, if I earn in your grace, that I will be rewarded in heaven.28:29And the word "earn" here in verse 17. Because you've earned. The New King James says, "Because you are faithful." This is a word used over and over in the Bible for spiritual fruit. So because you have earned, you have been faithful. And again, God reminds us that my finances and my things are inseparable from my faith. So if I am wasting what I have, then I am wasting the faith I say that I have in the Lord.28:55God rewards our faithfulness. Randy Alcorn said this. Here's a beautiful spiritual truth. You can't take it with you, but you can send it ahead. You can't take it with you, but you can send it ahead. I love that. To say, Lord, if I serve you here, if I sacrifice for you here, if I give for you here, Lord, I will send it ahead into heaven.29:18Lord, that there may be crowns, there may be cities, but I will have treasure that I can then offer and sacrifice to my heavenly Savior. We are held accountable and God will reward your faithfulness. We also see this with accountability, verse 20. Then another one came saying, "Master, here is your menna, which I have kept and I have put away in a handkerchief."29:45Our earthly actions reveal our heavenly faith. Look at verse 20. Look at this third servant. Now, let me remind you that all three are called servants for a reason. Why are they all three called servants?30:14Not a trick question because they serve and they're all three are serving who? The nobleman. And Jesus is the nobleman. So all three servants, there's actually 10 total, but they're serving the King. They're serving Jesus Christ. So all three are servants, correct? All three know Jesus. Look at verse 20. Then another one came saying, "Master, here is your menna.30:41I have kept it and put it away in a handkerchief. Your actions on earth reveal your heavenly faith." Look at verse 21. "For I feared you because you are an austere man. You collect what you do not deposit. You reap what you do not sow." Is that true about Jesus Christ? I've often struggled with this parable because basically Jesus answers him with the way that he answers Jesus.31:07Look at verse 22. He said to him, "Out of your mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow." Jesus is not saying that he is greedy, that he is a money hunger. Jesus is not saying that he is austere, that he collects what he does not deposit and he reaps what he does not sow.31:34Jesus is saying, "Well, I'm now going to judge you by your own mouth." Jesus is saying, "Well, you believe wrong, but even if you believe wrong, let's see if you live the way that you believe." Because what Jesus says is this, verse 23. "Why then did you not put money in the bank and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?"31:59Jesus says, "You don't even do what you say you believe." Our earthly actions reveal our spiritual faith. This conversation is given great detail. Actually, the third servant is given more detail than all three servants combined. Jesus spends time with this man.32:28It says that your actions reveal the truth of your heart. One, you weren't a good servant. But even though you weren't a good servant, your actions don't even mimic what you say. And so how does that apply in our lives? Here's the struggle. We live still in a culture in the Bible Belt in the South and thank God that we live in a place where we hear God's word constantly.32:48But the sad reality is some of us have heard God's word so much that we are inoculated to the truth. That we believe things that are incorrect about Jesus. We believe that the church saves. We believe that our baptism saves us. We believe that we're good or we believe that because we give that God is automatically going to reward even though we give selfishly.33:14We believe that if we have a good voice and we can sing loud that God will accept that. That's wrong. And Jesus looks at us and says, you don't even live what you say you believe, even though you believe wrongly. So may we look at our lives this morning and say, God, you look at my actions, so now may I look at my actions. God, does my pattern of giving and serving and living back up what I say I believe?33:42And if it doesn't, what you say you believe is wrong. But the good news is that Jesus can save people who are wrong. And I stand before you as someone who was wrong for many years, that grew up in church, that realized that it's the grace of Jesus that saved. It wasn't the church that I belonged to. And I realized the actions that I was doing in my life didn't mimic the faith I proclaimed to the world.34:10And here's our last spiritual truth this morning. Verse 22, he says to the servants, "Out of your own mouth, I will judge you. You wicked servant, you knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit, reaping what I did not sow."34:33Verse 24, he says, "And he said to those who stood by, take the menace from him, give it to him who has ten menace. For I say to you," verse 26, "that to everyone who has will be given, from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Verse 27, "But bring here those enemies of mine, who do not want me to reign over them and slay them before me."34:57Here's the truth of God's word. That although this man was a servant of the king, he was an enemy of the king. Because he did not live a life that honored the king. Even though he was, he knew the king.35:25He was an enemy of Jesus Christ because he did not have the faith he thought he had. And the life that he lived in private was not the life that he proclaimed in public. And the reality is this, that every single person will be accountable. Every person in this room is held accountable to Jesus Christ. And you say, "Well, how do you know that?" Let's look at this really quick. The one who earned ten menace, was he held accountable for that?35:54Yes. What was Jesus' proclamation? "Well done, good steward." Matthew says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." He was held accountable for that and rewarded. Accountability is not a scary, fearful thought if you have been faithful. To the second servant who knew the nobleman, who earned in the grace that was given to him. What was the proclamation on the second man?36:22"Well done, you good steward." The two men that knew the nobleman were honored. They were held accountable. And yet, even the enemy, even the unfaithful steward. Jesus says, "Out of your mouth, out of your mouth, you are held and you are held accountable for that." We are held accountable for what we do.36:50And if you have been faithful, I say this, thank God that we are held accountable. That he rewards those who give and who serve. Who recognizes John Wesley recognized, "Lord, all I have is yours. Your house burned down." He said, "I don't have a house. God has a house that he lets me use." And you know what? It's one less thing I have to worry about. God, may we recognize that you have authority.37:19If you're here today and you struggle with that. And I would imagine that most of us struggle. Why? Because we live in a land that we are richly blessed. Most of us are blessed, not because of anything we've done, but because God is gracious and faithful. And you say, "Well, I worked really hard for what I have." No. Where did you get the strength?37:48Well, the food I ate. Where'd you get the food? From the Walmart. But where did that come from? And everything that we trace back in our life eventually goes back to the Creator who is looking out for us. And if you struggle with authority and greed, may today you just spend some time in prayer and say, "God, I know I don't mean it yet, but help me mean this when I pray.38:13God, everything I have is yours. God, everything that I have is yours." It's already true. So Lord, may I just recognize it and live in the freedom that everything that I have is given by Jesus Christ. If you're here today and you struggle with accountability, you say, "I don't like that word." I have test anxiety.38:41I want you to know that if you are faithful and if you sacrifice for the kingdom, there is no sacrifice that you make that will not be seen or rewarded by your Savior. I love that thought. And ultimately, if we give our lives for the sake of the cross, that we will be welcomed in heaven one day by the arms of our Savior who says, "Josh, you gave it all.39:08You lost everything, but well done, my good and faithful servants." Can that be said about you this morning? Lord, help us be people that we live well. But maybe you're struggling this morning because you have not trusted in God's goodness. Maybe you're the third servant that you believe wrongly about Jesus Christ.39:33You believe you're good. You believe your sin's not so bad. And you believe if you just do enough, one day you'll be accepted into the kingdom. I want just to share with you, because I love you, what the Bible says. The Bible says that we all, and I'm the foremost, as Paul says, here's a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. The Apostle Paul, the Saint Paul says, "Of whom I am the worst."40:01And I would say, "Paul, I'm second." Jesus Christ died to save sinners. Romans 5:8 says that He proved His love for us. That while we were still sinners, not when we started going to church, not when I started turning my life around, when I was in rebellion, Jesus sent His Son to die. And as a dad who has a son, I don't understand that.40:29But He sent His Son to die for us, that if we believe, if we have faith, and if we will say, "Lord, I need that death, I need that sacrifice." The Bible says, "If you will believe in your heart, if you will say with your mouth, you will be saved." And God can turn the unfaithful servant to the one who says, "Well done, my good and faithful servant," because of Jesus. All we have is His, and one day we will give an account40:59for the faithfulness or the lack thereof. If you have not put your faith in Jesus, I beg you to not let this chance pass you by. We're going to have a time of invitation. And if you're scared, if you just struggle by you doing nothing, you're saying this, "God, I'm okay." But the Lord invites you with open arms. He will receive you with open arms in forgiveness and reconciliation41:25if you will pour out your heart before Him today. We're going to open the altar. If you just need to pray and say, "Lord, I need to pray. I struggle. All I have is yours." If you need to come to the altar and say that until you believe it, may the Lord honor our hearts. May He pour grace into us and may we see the grace in our lives this morning. Let's pray.42:07Thank you.← Previous in Life-Money-JoySunday, September 11, 2016Next in Life-Money-Joy →Sunday, September 25, 2016More sermons on Luke →
