Luke chapter 17 today as we open God's Word. Luke chapter 17. You have certainly heard that there are only two sure things in life. Death and taxes. And yet, as we open our Bibles to Luke 17, we find that Jesus reveals to us that there is something else that is sure, that is certain. No, it is not Simone Biles winning every event she enters. It's not Katie Ledecky winning every long-distance swim that she participates in. It's not those things. What is it that Jesus says is certain for every person in every place through every time? Read along as I read the first six verses of Luke 17 Then said he Jesus unto his disciples It is impossible But that and what's the next word What is it Offenses will come Read it again. It is impossible but that offenses will come. But woe unto him through whom they come. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. If he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by thy root and be thou planted in the sea. And it should obey you. At this time, Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Perea. Perea is to the north and east of Judea. And if we go back, as we've done recently, into Luke chapter 15, we'll find that publicans and sinners had joined with Jesus to hear him. But the Pharisees, the religious leaders, bad-mouthed Jesus for receiving them. Do you know, I am glad that Jesus received sinful men. How about you? That's a good thing because we are all sinful men and women. We all have said, thought, done things against the law of God. And I'm glad today to know that Jesus receives sinful men. Bible is clear, isn't it? That Jesus came not to call the righteous, not those who are actually righteous, but those who believe themselves to be righteous in and of themselves. He didn't come for them. He came to call sinners, those who know they have a need. He came to call them to repentance. The Pharisees' response prompted Jesus to share a series of parables throughout which they continued to deride him. Luke 16 and verse 14 makes this very clear. But Jesus concluded addressing them with another illustration that we saw last week. The rich man and Lazarus. We saw the realities of death and eternity and entreaty and the possibility of salvation because of the gospel through this account. But now the Bible tells us that Jesus once again turns to his disciples to teach them. This context is very important as we try to understand what Jesus teaches in Luke 17, one through six. And there are four aspects that I want us to see in this passage about things that are certain, just like we would say death and taxes are certain. Number one is this, and it should be already very clear to us, but it's the inevitable reality. What is the inevitable reality that Jesus gives to us in the text? What is it? That something will come. Offenses. Offenses will come. What Jesus tells us is essentially this. You think death and taxes are sure. Everyone will experience offense in their lives. Now we need to understand what exactly Jesus is talking about because we have all heard someone make a statement like this. Well, I'm offended And people say this for a variety of different reasons. And in my experience, many of the times I hear someone say, well, I'm offended. It actually doesn't meet the criteria of the word that Jesus uses in this text. You see, the word Jesus uses in this text, the original word is scandala. We get an English word from it, the word scandal. And when Jesus uses this word, it's active. In other words, the person that he addresses in verse two who is doing the offending, who's causing the offense, they scandalize. Scandalizo is the Greek word. They scandalize the person that is receiving the offense, that's taking the offense. What does this actually mean? The word is used in scripture and in the classic Greek language to describe picture a trap. And usually with some type of an animal trap, there will be a trigger. That trigger many times is some type of contraption. In olden times, it may have been just a bent stick. but bring it up to our lifetimes. You see animal traps have some sort of a trigger. There's a bait to draw that animal in, and once they're in past the trap door, they trigger it, and that stick, if you will, that trigger releases and slams the door shut. And those types of traps leave the animal alive, and you can take it and release it into the forest somewhere. There's a mouse trap which usually does not leave the mouse alive But there's bait and when they come on to that bait the weight of the mouse Triggers the device and it slams shut Ending the poor mouse's life To the thanks of everyone who set the trap. I But there's that little, you've set a mousetrap before probably. You bring that spring part over and you lay that little stick on it very carefully so as not to slam your own finger in it. And then there's that other part in the middle that you have to kind of set that's very touchy. And that is that trigger point. That's that, if you will, that bent stick, that trigger. That's what this word was used to describe. In other contexts, it describes a stumbling block. Something that is thrown into someone's way that will cause them to trip, to stumble, and to fall. The specific definition denotes a cause of sin, a trap, any cause that results in a person sinning, either by preventing the right thing they should do or promoting a wrong thing that they shouldn't do. So when Jesus uses this idea of offense, it's not, oh, I'm offended at that. It is something that actually leads someone to sin In in my context I am NOT saying this because someone has made this comment to me, but I in my experience I've heard it if I were to come to church this morning in my slacks and my sport coat my shirt, but minus a tie I I guarantee someone somewhere, not necessarily here, would be offended by that. Pastor is not wearing a tie. I am offended. Pastor needs to wear a tie. I've been in I have been in places. I remember as a college student having a Notable if I said his name you would know his name a notable pastor come and do our ministerial seminar and Promote that as a pastor you always need to be in a white shirt Oops You always need to be in a tie. You always need to wear a suit and you always need to wear cufflinks What But I guarantee you, someone out there somewhere may be offended if I came without a tie, and that I'm not wearing a white shirt, and that I'm not wearing a suit for that matter, I'm not wearing cufflinks. Now, the reality is, if that happens, is that person offended in the sense that because pastor didn't wear a tie, they've been led into sin. I sure hope not. If that leads someone into sin, Wow. That's not what Jesus is talking about here, okay? That type of offense is an offense of your preference. In other words, you prefer that your pastor wear a tie. You prefer that your pastor wear a full suit. You prefer that your pastor wear a white shirt. And if he doesn't, you're offended. And that has nothing to do with you being led into sin. It is simply your preference that you've you've let get a little too much of a priority in your life. OK, Jesus is talking about what actually leads to sin. Now, we understand, don't we, that sin is an inevitable reality of life. Right? You know that it is inevitable that you and I sin. It happens. We do. We make wrong choices. We say the wrong things. We think the wrong things. It happens. Just as much as it's true that sin is an inevitable reality of life, scandals are sometimes involved. someone else causing an offense that leads someone into sin. This is an inevitable reality of life. Jesus, by the way, if you remember the context, this is why it's important, Jesus is sharing this with his disciples right after he has been derided and bad-mouthed by the religious leaders. They're saying hateful things about him. They're saying blasphemous things about him. Jesus used his personal experience as a springboard to teach his disciples that they would experience offense and how they should respond to it. So this is the inevitable reality. Number two, I want you to see the improper relation. Jesus next addresses the person who causes offense, the person who scandalizes someone else. And he says very clearly, don't be that person. And if you and I stopped and thought back, we would probably all have to admit that there have been times in our lives where we have actually been an offense to someone else. Whereby something we did or something we said actually promoted someone doing something that was wrong or promoted someone hesitating from doing something right that they ought to have done. As a parent, this is a very real situation with my children. Every word, everything I do, the attitude that I present, the way that I speak to them, or the ways that I fail to train them the way that I should, all of these can be possible offenses in my children's lives. It is a very real thing that I need to be aware of Jesus says don't be the trigger of the trap the setter of the stumbling block one Teacher said it this way. Essentially. Jesus is saying people are going to take the bait Don't you be the one who offers the hook I It's going to happen offenses Will happen it's impossible that they won't People are going to take the bait somewhere. Don't be the one to offer the hook He says people are going to trip up woe to you if you set stumbling block in their way And what does Jesus say? There is their judgment for this It were better for him If you hung a heavy stone around his neck and threw him in the ocean to drown Then that someone should offend one of these little ones How does one become a scandal ah How is it that someone? Offends someone else in this way Paul said this in first Corinthians chapter 8 verse 12, but when he sins so against the brethren he and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. It may be a believer who's very young in Christ. It may be a believer who's just less mature in Christ than you are. And in the context of 1 Corinthians 8, Paul is talking about different sources of offenses in his culture. One source of offense could be eating meat offered to idols. And the Bible says very clearly that this really is not a sin issue, but as believers in Jesus Christ, we do need to be aware of our brothers and sisters in Christ who may not be as mature in Christ. who may not be as old in Christ, who may not be as knowledgeable in Christ, and be careful that we don't do something, say something in their presence that would actually promote a sinful response in them, something that to them could be sinful. So be very careful. Moving on, let's see number three, the irreproachable response. Jesus does something very neat here. He doesn't only address the one who offends and says, don't do it, but he speaks to those who may take offense in any way, shape, or form. and he tells us how to respond. In this way, we could say Jesus addresses the victim. He doesn't only address the offender, he addresses the person receiving offense, he addresses the victim. So the question that we would have to ask is, what is my responsibility to others in connection to offenses when I am violated? Because what did Jesus say? What's the inevitable reality? Offenses will come. You and I have at times in our lives been the one violated. We have been the ones sinned against. We have been the ones that the attitude and the action of someone else has either promoted us not doing something we should do, or promoted us doing something we shouldn't do. What's our response supposed to be? Although Jesus doesn't address this specifically in the text, I think it bears saying and is obvious, but it's don't take the bait. When someone's attitude or someone's action or someone's words would promote sin in your life, don't take the bait. Don't give in. Do right. Don't allow someone else's wrong behavior, wrong attitude, wrong word lead you, motivate you to do what is wrong. You do what's right. You stay close to and follow Jesus. But then what does Jesus say when we are violated? Whether we choose to take the bait or not, there is still something that we should do in response. Two actions Jesus gives us. Number one, admonish the wrongdoer. Jesus says it this way in verse number three if thy brother trespass against thee what? Rebuke him Rebuke him admonish him is the idea I Should not be the source of offense but at the same time when someone else is and I am violated whether I've taken the bait or not I I should rebuke. Now understand that this rebuke is not just a scolding for wrongdoing. This type of a rebuke is a rebuke that actually strengthens the wrongdoer to do what is right. But is this how we normally deal with violations against us? I want you to think about the times you've been violated, you've been wronged. Is this the way we normally respond? Many people, some of us included, when we experience something like that, we tend to bottle it up and keep it inside. Or we talk to someone about it, but the someone we talk to about it isn't the someone who violated us. We talk to others about it. We share our hurt or our wrongdoing that was done against us with someone else rather than the person who did the wrong, who violated us. Jesus instructs us not to just bottle it up and keep it inside. Jesus instructs us not to talk to someone else about it. Jesus instructs us to go to the person who violated us and talk to them about it. Rebuke them. Now understand again, strengthening the wrongdoer is not done in the spirit of self-righteousness. It's not done just to list several grievances that have been done against me. Admonishing the other person should be done in the spirit of love to strengthen one another. To deal with what I need to deal with, but also to give them the opportunity to deal with what they need to deal with. And having the attitude, well, I'm not the wrongdoer, so they should come to me. is not the right attitude. Is that what Jesus says? Well, wait for that person to come to you, and when they do, handle it this way. Is that what it says? No. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. It's active. It means I need to go, I need to take action, I need to do something. Rebuke him. And then, Jesus says, not only admonish them, If that weren't hard enough, here's something even harder. Forgive them. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. I'm responsible to admonish. I'm also responsible to forgive. We often struggle with forgiveness, don't we? I'm not saying just verbalizing, I forgive you. We struggle to put forgiveness into action in the way that it's intended and what it actually means. What is biblical forgiveness? I'll tell you what biblical forgiveness is not. Biblical forgiveness is not sweeping wrongs under the rug. Biblical forgiveness is not just letting it go. Biblical forgiveness is not just treating it like it never happened. Biblical forgiveness, including in this account, means to stop blaming or taking an offense into account. It's not pardon. And by the way, it's not forgetting. In case you're unaware of this, forgive and forget is just simply not possible. Nor would I say it's biblical. The reality is you can't forget. How many of you have forgotten something that you actually wanted to forget? I don't know about you, I've forgotten a lot of things I didn't want to forget. But I really have trouble forgetting the things that I don't want to remember. Anybody else like that? And the reality is, if I asked you to do so, you could begin to list off violations that you've experienced in your life. You could probably, without much difficulty and recall, begin to talk about The ways you've been hurt, the ways you've been betrayed, the ways that people have offended you in the actual biblical sense of the word. What is forgiveness? Because the reality is we can't forget. Forgiveness, biblically speaking, means not keeping an account. I'm going to remember it. That's just reality. But I'm not going to live with it in the sense of let it control me. I'm not going to keep a record of it that I can bring back to every situation that I go through in life, even including when that same individual wrongs me again, that I can hold over their head, You know how you just spoke to me that way you did the same thing last week. That's two times in a week now That's that's four times this year That's six times this month that you've done that same thing that you've had that same attitude that you spoke to me the same way that you treated me the same way and That's it I'm not taking it anymore And what verse four of our text does is it actually illustrates the idea of biblical forgiveness because what Jesus says is this, if that person trespass against you seven times in a what? Day. Now I don't know about you, but how many of us could take the same person wronging us the same way seven times in the same day? What does Jesus say? Now it's interesting, isn't it? Because I think we all know what he says. And we all have an idea because we've heard it taught, we've heard it preached, what Jesus means by this number. We know in another place that the disciples are feeling really generous, and should I forgive him seven times? And Jesus says, not seven times, I say unto you 70 times seven times. And what's the idea? Don't even keep count. Here we could say the idea of seven. We know the number seven at times in the bible represents completion and so we could say Seven times in the sense of completion here. Like that's it. The cup is full and Jesus could go this way with it if he trespass against you seven times in the day his trespass is complete Okay, you don't need to do anything at that point, right? No If he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in the day turns again and says, I'm sorry, what? Forgive. Forgive. The second time, forgive as if the first time didn't happen. The third time, forgive as if the second time didn't happen. The fourth time, forgive as if the third time hadn't happened. The fifth time, forgive as if the, and you get the picture. The forgiveness is fresh because you're not keeping a count. You're not keeping a record. Forgive. By the way, Jesus is giving an indication, I'm not going to add it up to some quantity or limit. At the same time, Jesus is also giving an indication that I'm not gonna determine if the repentance is genuine. Because you've all been here, haven't you? My son, just because he's often the culprit. Michael does something. And sometimes Stephanie and I hear this going on. He does something, says something, and one of his sisters say, I'm telling dad or I'm telling mom. Michael will immediately get very loud. And if you know my son he can get very loud and And they're not they keep coming to mommy and daddy and they're gonna tell and Michael And you know, we have to deal with it And you know this to be true. If you've had children, because you've probably seen it with your children, there are times when Michael will say something like, I'm sorry, in that way, and his sisters will say something like this. No, you're not, because you've done this so many times. You're not really sorry. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think my daughters figured that out all on their own? Or have they seen or heard that idea from somebody else? What do you think? I can admit to you, honestly, there have been times my children have apologized to me, and I've said something like, no, you're not sorry. If you were sorry, you'd start obeying better. Guess where they've heard that idea from before? Me. And do you know what Jesus is teaching here? He's not just teaching you and I that we shouldn't keep a count. He's also teaching us this idea. It's not up to you to determine if that person's repentance is genuine before you forgive them. Because, naturally, when someone wrongs us more than once the same way in the same day, and they say, I'm sorry, once, and they say it again, what do we begin to think? You're not really sorry, otherwise what? You wouldn't do it again. Hey, can I ask you a question this morning? Have you ever gone to God to confess a sin and ask for forgiveness and God say, no, you've done this too many times, I don't believe you anymore? This is why we struggle with forgiveness, because it seems crazy, doesn't it? It seems ludicrous to continue to forgive when someone just keeps doing the same thing over and over again and saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, and we get to the point where we go, no, you're not sorry, I don't believe you, so I'm not really going to forgive you. Praise God that God doesn't act that way. And he teaches us, you don't act that way either. It's not up to you. You forgive. Okay, well, here's another question. Well, what if the wrongdoer doesn't repent? You go to someone who's hurt you, violated you, and you share that with them, and they just begin making excuses. They make it out like, no, I didn't do anything wrong. If what I did caused that in you, you're the one with the problem. What do I do then? First, do not go on rebuking. Look at the Bible. Look at what Jesus said. If thy brother trespass against thee, what? Rebuke him in the In the original language the verb in the tense of the verb that Jesus uses here means a one-time action That is what this verb in the tense of this verb means. It means a one-time action In other words, I don't believe jesus intends for you To go on holding it over this person to go on Telling this person over and over and over and over and over and over again how they wronged you and how they need to make it right News flash you are not the holy spirit I don't believe the Holy Spirit chose this word coincidentally. I don't believe Jesus did. Share with that person how they've hurt you one time, and then regardless of their response, you leave it alone. You've done what you were supposed to do, what Jesus told you to do. The second thing you do when that happens, is you need to commit it to the Lord. You need to leave it in His hands. Should I still forgive them? There's a sense in which you do, and a sense in which you can't. What do I mean by that? I mean this, if you're in that situation, where someone has violated you and you've done the right thing, you've gone to them and you've addressed them with it, and they have not repented, you need to forgive them in the sense that you're not going to continue to hold on to that. Because what happens if you hold on to it? You know the answer, don't you? It lingers, it festers. What happens when you leave a splinter under your skin? You let it linger and you let it fester. Does it get better on its own? Does it stay the same? No, what happens? It gets worse, doesn't it? And that's what happens when you let a hurt linger and fester. You can't just hold on to that because that person Didn't repent they didn't say they were sorry. They they didn't ask for your forgiveness. You have to in that sense Give it to God give the pain to God give the hurt to God Do you remember Jesus on the cross? Jesus from the cross after He had been hurt in Deeper ways than you and I can possibly imagine not only physically but emotionally mentally spiritually After he was hanging on the cross and still being ridiculed by the religious leaders Who rejected him who should have known better who only turned him over to? pilot and the Roman authorities out of envy out of jealousy and Jesus spoke stunning words from the cross. Father, what? Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Think about God's offer of forgiveness. Who does God's offer of forgiveness extend to? Everyone, right? Including those who don't accept it. Now, Here's where it matches up with our hurts and people who wrong us who don't make it right. If an individual doesn't accept God's offer of forgiveness, who's hurt by it? They are, right? They are. They can't appropriate God's gift of salvation if they don't accept God's offer of forgiveness. God's offer of forgiveness still stands. The forgiveness is still there. It's still available. But the relationship continues to be broken, continues to be severed because they've not accepted forgiveness. In the same way, when someone wrongs you and you approach them, you rebuke them, you admonish them, You give them the opportunity to receive forgiveness and they choose instead. No, I didn't do anything wrong. No, you're the one who's wrong. Otherwise, my action wouldn't have affected you that way. You can still offer forgiveness like God offers everyone forgiveness. It's not gonna continue to hurt you. It's not gonna be something that that destroys your life. Because friends, that's what unforgiveness will do. Unforgiveness is the breeding place for anger, is the breeding place for malice, is the breeding place for bitterness, is the breeding place for distrust in others. All of that can be bred by and grow in the place of unforgiveness. And if you harbor that, it's not going to hurt that other person, it's going to hurt you. When they don't make it right, the relationship is still gonna be broken, it's still gonna be severed, but it doesn't have to continue to hurt you. I want you to see number five. or number four, excuse me, the inaccurate response. The disciples' response to this is interesting. What did they say to Jesus? Verse five, look at it. Lord what? Increase our faith. Now, what does that statement identify? That statement identifies that they recognized what Jesus was asking is hard. That kind of forgiveness is hard. If I can say it this way, that kind of forgiveness isn't natural. It's not what you and I would do in and of ourselves. And so they say, Lord, increase our faith. The natural human response is not to admonish and then forgive the person who's wronged me. The natural human response is not when that person doesn't repent to stop rebuking, to leave it just at the one time. The natural response is not to commit it to the Lord and leave it in his hands and go on. The natural response is to withhold forgiveness, even from those who would take it. The natural response is to hold onto it and let it simmer, to harbor it in ourselves. When that person doesn't make it right, that's what's natural. And so the disciples recognized the difficulty of what Jesus commanded, and they said, Lord, increase our faith. They petitioned the right person, but they petitioned Jesus for the wrong thing. How do I know that? Look at Jesus' response. If you had faith as what? A grain of mustard seed. What do you know about a grain of mustard seed? It's small, right? Jesus says if you had faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can do impossible things. What kind of impossible thing? He speaks here of a sycamine tree. This is thought to be the black mulberry tree that was prominent in places around where they were. This tree was a firmly rooted tree. It has a large, deep growing root system to allow it to withstand storms and the difficulties of places where growth is difficult because of the environment. And yet Jesus said, if you had just a small amount of faith, you could say to this tree with this really deep root system, move, and it would be moved. And so Jesus says, even with This type of small faith, you can do impossible things. Now understand, Jesus is not teaching here, go ahead and do purposeless things with your faith. No, our faith is to be used for purposeful things, for what He desires. In other words, our faith can't enable us to forgive the way he teaches us to forgive. But if we struggle with it, is the problem that we don't have enough faith, or is the problem something else? If faith is the size of a grain of mustard seed, and what is that again? Small. So is bigger faith what is needed? I would submit to you Jesus says no. Disciples, the issue isn't that you need more faith. If there's any issue with faith, the issue is not the quantity, it's the quality. And what is it that gives faith quality? I submit to you today that what gives faith quality is the object of the faith. Faith is only as good as the foundation on which it rests. Do you understand that? Your trust is only as good as who or what your trust is in. If I were to say something like this, you know, I can trust I can trust my internet because it works 75% of the time. Well, what does that mean? That means that 25% of the time my internet doesn't work. Okay, so really my trust is only as good as the object my trust is in and that means that 25% of the time I'm gonna be disappointed. Okay, so what does that mean about our faith? To do the impossible, to do what is unnatural, it's not about having more faith, it's about my faith being in the right person. And when it comes to this issue of forgiveness, It's not faith in myself. I can't do that. Well, who are you looking to do it then? Right? You're looking to self. I can't do that. I can't forgive that person. I can't forgive that. Well, maybe you should stop looking at yourself because you are being truthful. You can't do it. But do you know who can? Do you know who can enable you to have that kind of forgiveness? It's the one who offers forgiveness to all. for everything. It's Him. So, put your faith in Him. One writer said it this way, it is not so much great faith that is required as faith in a great God. Spurgeon said it this way, what matters most is what our faith is in, the object of our faith. The eye cannot see itself. Did you ever see your own eye? In a mirror, you may have done so, but that was only a reflection of it. And you may, in like manner, see the evidence of your faith, but you cannot look at the faith itself. Faith looks away from itself to the object of faith, even to Christ. So stop looking into yourself. Stop looking into, what did the disciples say, increase? Our faith and what Jesus is saying is don't look at your faith. Look at the object of your faith. Me. Look at me. The writer of Ephesians, Paul. wrote these words in Ephesians 4, 31 and 32, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. But he didn't stop there, did he? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Look to Him. There are three possible responses to this message that you can have today. Number one, maybe today God has used this to help you to understand you have actually been the cause of a scandal, an offense in someone else's life. If that's true, what do you do? Make it right. Confess it to the Lord, ask for his forgiveness, and then don't wait for the other person to come to you, the person who's been hurt. You go through that. Say, hey, God's spoken to my heart. I believe I've hurt you this way, and I'm sorry about that, and I'd like your forgiveness. Maybe you have been the victim of an offense. Why are you waiting for the other person to come to you? Why are you continuing to carry it? God has given you steps that you need to take to deal with it. Take those steps. And then perhaps the offense you need to deal with today has to do with ways that you have offended God. Now you cannot cause him to sin, but certainly you have sinned against him. He's already taken the first step. He sent Jesus to this world because he loved you so much. And Jesus died on the cross in your place. He suffered and died to pay for your sin. God took the first step. And three days later, after he was crucified, Jesus rose from the grave. Call on him today, believing that he died for your sin and was risen the third day. He'll forgive you, he'll save you. You can have every sin washed in the blood of Christ. and know that heaven's your home for all of eternity. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning? I'm gonna ask the pianist as soon as she is ready just to begin playing, and maybe today God has spoken to your heart. Maybe there's an offense that you need to deal with. you've been the cause of, or you've been the recipient of an offense, and you need to take care of it. You need to make something right with someone else, or you need to have a conversation with someone else to share with them how you've been hurt to give them the opportunity to make it right. And that can be the first step that's needed in your healing. Or perhaps today you are that one who needs to come to Christ in faith and receive salvation.