Luke (Session 14) Chapter 14

well we're in the 14th session we're doing chapter 14 of the book of luke and uh this whole segment is of course uh uh jesus is going towards jerusalem we finished the section of the galilean ministry we're now in a segment of the gospel which in which he's on his way to the climax in jerusalem but what he's doing along the way is teaching his disciples a lot of things but specifically how to deal with rejection they're rejecting him and he wants his disciples to understand what it's going to be like when they will be rejecting them and so this is right in tune with many things we were talking about in our discussion before this started in terms of we are in a christ-rejecting world we need to understand that that's the realities we face so the last part of the previous chapter chapter 13 22-35 really focused on some teachings having to do with people who were excluded from the kingdom the first 17 verses of this chapter is going to focus on those that are included in the kingdom interestingly enough okay now one of the other things we that will come up in our thinking we need to understand there are different groups of saints when it speaks of the elect or speaks of the saints it can be referring to to members of any of three different groups the first group obviously is the old testament saints the word saint by the way just means someone who's been set apart the old testament saints and they're distinctive from the new testament and the the interesting boundary there is john the baptist john the baptist was distinctive in that he closed the old testament he's the last of the old testament and and jesus said it makes this remarkable comment about john the baptist he says no man born of woman is greater than john that is a wild endorsement no man born of woman is greater than john accepting of course christ that's taken for granted but then he what makes that so provocative is in his next breath he says he that's least in the kingdom from heaven is greater than john wow what does that mean does that mean john wasn't saved no it just means he's not part of an elite group a group about whom much is said that is unique paul's epistles try to get across the things that make the second group distinctive okay and he uses the term the body of christ as a term for what we call the church the ecclesia the body of christ the new testament believers have privileges and opportunities that were not available to the old testament in the old testament the holy spirit came and went saul is the best example of that he had it and he didn't have it the thing that blew paul away as he began to read because he understood is that for the new testament believer the holy spirit is given without repentance it can't be withdrawn we are sealed by the holy spirit and that blue uh by the way that was that was that's unique we sort of take it for granted no there's a of those teachings that you get out of the epistles uh are extremely provocative and we're we're part of a second group a distinctive group that group had a beginning its formal beginning was in acts chapter 2 when the holy spirit came down in a very forcible way it has a terminus that will be closed at an event called the harpazzo the biggest shock the planet earth will have is this snatching away of that group that doesn't mean the holy spirit's finished he's going to be very very very busy subsequent to that with a third group which typically are called the the tribulation saints or the post-rapture saints there are people are going to be saved after the rapture are they in the body of christ no they're saved but they don't have those distinctives and so be a sense of the fact that when it says the elect from the context you need to understand who's he talking about he could be talking about any one of these certain places there's places there's distinctives for the old testament the old testament most scholars infer that the old testament saints are resurrected at the second coming of christ oh wait a minute the body of christ is resurrected at the harpazzo that's what paul talks about in first corinthians 15. that's what he talks about in first thessalonians chapter 4. and that's even hinted at about three or four places in the old testament but so the the point is there's a series of events that occur between the harpazzo and the second coming the bema seat of christ the judgment seat of christ is one of those the marriage of the lamb the wedding of the the wedding in the father's house will take place when he comes back and sets up his kingdom there's a wedding supper celebrating that marriage on the earth but john the baptist and the old testament saints apparently are present then because they will have been resurrected at that second coming now that's a view there are good scholars that have a little different perspective that's that's from what we that's what we infer from what we think we know okay now i want to talk about something else that's going to come up here i've i've often threatened that i would have a talk we probably should we're going to have to we're going to have a presentation tonight about why most christians when they get to heaven are going to be disappointed well i figured that would be a great title to smoke out the fundamentalists that'll win okay because many of us have been taught that if you're saved you're going to reign with christ not necessarily we want to talk about that there is a distinction i want to suggest and by the way these are suggestions i'll tell you what i believe and why i believe it but i'm challenging you to come to your own conclusions from your own studies i think there's a distinction between salvation and reigning if you trust christ you are saved if you accepted christ you're saved why because he did it all on that cross 2000 years ago your passport is stamped not guilty you're innocent as far as the judgment bar of god is concerned because you have been to you has been ascribed his innocence because you're in christ that's salvation and i believe you that you cannot lose that once you have it you may blow your life you may lose a lot of rewards there's all kinds of things and in fact god may take you out of the ball game and ananias sapphira they lied and so they were does that mean they were unsaved no not necessarily that's a separate issue now reigning is something else salvation is available to anyone it's simply by receiving jesus christ praise god for that he did it all and that is mind-boggling fabulous reigning with him is promised for if for those who participate with him if so be that you suffer for him the scripture says if so be there's oh there's a footnote that implies among those that are saved there's going to be a group that actually will reign with him but that's not everybody and that is a huge debate among many christians and you need to understand that that's our view and we'll explain why we hold it but you also should understand that's very controversial there's a difference between salvation and rewards inheritance and rewards inheritance include some things you can't lose your sonship you can't lose the prodigal son blew it well we're going to get into that okay let me go on here contrary now though the other thing that luke does here because luke is a gentile or presents a gentile perspective and uh contrary to his listeners which are obviously mostly jewish at that time the jewish expectation was that they were shocked that jewish outcasts and gentiles will be included in the kingdom that's part of the message that that uh that luke is emphasizing well let's just jump in chapter 14. a lot of these things are going to come up in this chapter it came to pass as he went as jesus went into the house of one of the chief pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day that they watched him now you realize at sabbath he's in the house of the pharisees which is really their adversaries and so you know something's going to happen here a pharisee meal now sabbath day hospitality is a very important part of jewish life it was common to receive an invitation to a home for a meal after the weekly synagogue service okay this though was an attempt to trap him but jesus is never caught off guard you know jesus severe denunciation of the pharisees and scribes just provoked them to retaliation and they continually plotted against him in fact when you get to matthew 26 they plotted to take him but the plot was not to let it happen on a holiday because they didn't want the romans upset well jesus arranges that for all to happen on the most holy day of the year that wasn't their plan that's the way jesus forced it by announcing at the dinner that somebody was going to betray him and so forth they had a fisher cut bait that night anyway moving on verse 2 and behold there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy now drop sees a condition of excess fluid in the tissues of the body can be a type of cancer maybe a liver kidney or heart problems anything number of conditions but this guy is in pretty bad shape i sort of wonder what's he doing at the dinner well he's probably a plant they're trying to trap jesus here see man with a drop see see if jesus ignored the afflicted man he was without compassion if he healed him he was openly violating the sabbath and they could accuse him that's the tension here now jesus had violated the sabbath how many times before seven altogether got it okay at least that way more but that's just the ones we have recorded the demonic in mark one peter's mother-in-law in capernaum in mark 1 the impotent man in jerusalem in john 5. the man with a withered hand in mark 3 the woman bowed together we saw back in chapter 13 the last time and the man born blind in john 9 and of course this guy is going to get things so those are seven and i think i'm saying there are only seven but it's always interesting that these things come in sevens have you noticed that in the scripture that's called by some the heptatic structure it's just fancy word for seven sevenfold verse three jesus answering spaking to the lawyers and pharisees saying yeah he asked them the question is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day i'm always intrigued by that you know the the yeshiva student asked the rabbi he says i don't say rabbi every time i ask a question you always answer it with a question and the rabbi said shouldn't it anyway jesus is it lawful he puts it to them is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day and they held their peace they didn't have an answer so he took him the man and healed him and let him go you know it's interesting they're ready to quibble about this but none of those carping characters could have healed him on that day or any other day and everybody present knew that so they're trying to trap them but they're ain't gonna work and answer them saying which of you shall have an ass or an fall into a pit and will not straightway pull them out on the sabbath day that was a common occurrence in an agricultural economy and you gotta if you get one of your animals got into trouble you extricate it right then before it does itself harm right they could not answer them again to these things and he put forth a parable to those which were bitten that's to this dinner that they're all together when he marked how they chose out of the it shows out the chief rooms in other words it's a multi-nook kind of place and the top brass have the better place and you know everybody's jockeying for position marked how they chose out the chief room saying unto them when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding sit not down in the highest room lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him see we're talking about false popularity here and he that obeyed thee and him come and say to thee give this man place and thou begin with shame to take the lowest or lower room you have the idea don't be which don't be presumptuous but when thou art didn't go and sit down in the lowest room that when he that made thee cometh he may say unto thee friend go up higher then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee this probably doesn't occur that much in our informal way of eating but in far more formal places place settings are a big deal if you're in a diplomatic situation it's a big deal to figure out what order people are supposed to be set up in the more formal it is in diplomatic circles especially it's heavy it's heavy stuff and uh i won't start getting into that anyway but from having as a naval academy graduate as you can imagine we get into that a great deal for a lot of reasons probably the navy more than the army and the others because of its traditions and history anyway continue verse 11 for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humble himself shall be exalted that's similar what we saw last time when in in chapter 13 when he said the first will be last the last will be first albert einstein said try not to become a man of success but try to become a man of value okay or another way of saying the same thing is to you instead of success seek significance they're not the same thing proverbs 25 starting at verse 6 put not not forth thyself in the presence of the king and stand not in the place of great men for better it is to be said unto thee come up hither then thou should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen verse 13 and when thou makest the feast call the poor the maimed the lame the blind why do you do that for the lord's sake you minister to them for the lord's sake one of the things i challenge you to do in each of our lesson plans we usually have a optional research project for the student that wants to do some something extra in that spirit i encourage you to undertake a study of the bible to make and compile the evidences about god's heart for the poor some of it's very subtle some of it's quite overt but all through the scripture god has a special place for the poor the widows the orphans the disadvantaged so when you do something for any of them you can count on the fact that god's keeping score there's always your you're always performing before an audience even though the audience maybe just won him let's talk about proper hospitality you see inviting the outcasts is the idea inviting the outcast would not make a man righteous but it would testify that he is righteous so you don't do that to gain points you do that to demonstrate that you are righteous it should bear evidence of something that's already happened to you that's what james really develops in his in epistles that you you say you have faith i'll see it through your works that it's not the works that saves you it's the faith that saves you but i'll know that you're saved by watching the evidence of it that's the idea or somebody said you know if you were on trial for being a christian is there any evidence that would convict you i mean you know anyway okay and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot be recommends thee for thou shalt be recommenced at the resurrection of the just in other words if you do this for the poor they can't recompense you you'll get your recommends at the resurrection and when when one of them sat at meat with him heard these things he said unto him blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of god jewish people picture their future kingdom as a great feast with abraham isaac and jacob and the prophet dishonored guests we see that echoed all through the scripture that's the way they visualize they they saw heaven as a feast with everybody around in some proper order and uh then he said unto him now there's another parable coming so you always spoke publicly in parables a certain man made a great supper and bad many now we're going to talk now we're going to get a lesson about responding that's what we're shifting in here the per this person was assuming that he and the other people present would all be present in the kingdom that's the context of the previous assumption and he's going to address he's going to address them in that idiom jesus took the opportunity to use that feast motif to explain that many of the people there would not be present in a feast in god's kingdom oh anyway this guy made the big fish in the story he says he sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bitten come for all things are now ready see the host of this parable uh uh feast sent his servants to each of the invited guests to tell them that the banquet was ready and you saw this acted out in esther and so forth in five and six but what we're going to see they what they're going to do here in this example is they're going to insult the host by offering feeble excuses for not coming and they all with one consent began to make excuse the first said on him i have bought a piece of ground and i must need to go and see it i pray that you have me excused you know that's kind of a strange excuse because he bought this piece of ground did he buy it without having seen it i assume he did his diligence before he bought the place i just bought it right now i must needs going and see it so it's obviously a feeble excuse another said i bought five yoke of oxen and i go to prove them i pray they have me excused this guy bought five yoke of oxen and hadn't checked them out before the guy got paid i mean come on another said i've married a wife and therefore i cannot come now by the way having a new wife would have kept the man off the battlefield but not from a banquet deuteronomy 24 if you were if you're married you were relieved of of military duties for one year that's kind of cool yeah so that servant came and showed us lord these things now the servant comes back and these three exemplars are probably other but these three guys each have these people excuses they showed us the servant came and showed his lord these things then the master of the house being noticed the master of the house being angry said to a servant go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor the maimed and the halt and the blind in other words the people that were invited didn't want to come go out and get the rest of these up but that my house may be filled jesus was referring to the members of the jewish community were considered inferior and ceremoniously unclean in the minds of of the jewish culture there as was the man with drops that he'd just healed see these were inferior in the mind of the so they didn't have the social status and the servant said lord it has done as thou has commanded yet there's room now that we did he did all that there's still more room but this is quite a banquet the lord said in the sermon go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled now you know it's interesting you go when you get into acts chapter 1 where jesus commissions his apostles his disciples but ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnessed unto me both in jerusalem and judea and in samaria and the animals part of the earth those are concentric circles jerusalem first then think of judea like the county i mean it's the next major slice and after judea you include samaria those are outcasts and then to the uttermost part of the earth and it's interesting how we generally see ministries operate that way they'll have a domain and then they they typically grow in in steps that way so that was the pattern acts they start in jerusalem they moved throughout the region of judea in acts 8 the door was open to samaritans and in acts 10 to the gentiles it spreads out like concentric circles we're down to verse 24 for i say unto you that none of these men which were bidden shall taste of my supper now so jesus is just forcing a direct understanding of this parable they made that now jesus suddenly is being very crisp because he's talking about his supper none of those men which were bitten and he's among these pharisees on shabbat that's putting him through the thing none of those men that which were bitten well of my supper how do you think that went over he knows how tactful he is here this parable at the bank would be a a banquet about another banquet reinforced his previous teaching that he would abandon jerusalem this is in effect what he's saying he is abandoning jerusalem he knows what's going to happen when that day comes and he rides that donkey into jerusalem we're going to get all that in detail in luke 19. but he knows that that um and he he says he announces the purpose of all history i would have gathered you as a handguard of chickens but you would not he came to fulfill the promises that have been given since the garden of eden and they turned them down so now these things are hidden from your sight forever no paul will tell us until the fullness of the gentiles become in so the this parable is going to be detailed out for us we're going to luke 19 we'll go through all that the people who originally had been offered a share of the kingdom had rejected it wow so now the message was going out to others including the gentiles and that's one of the reasons we have luke's gospel because the other three gospel writers were jewish but this is the really gets across the fact that this is going to go out far beyond just the people that had been initially promised it nothing is so important as accepting his offer of the kingdom for one's entire destiny rests on his response to that offer jesus is offering us a kingdom now the irony here that underlies some of this the concept of the kingdom is denied by most churches the kingdom the throne of david was promised to mary in acts chapter 1. the pivotal event in acts chapter 15 the council of jerusalem james quotes amos 9 11 that the tabernacle of david is going to be reestablished not the temple of solomon that's a different thing the tabernacle david that's the palace of the king there is a kingdom coming it's a kingdom on the earth jesus is going to set up a kingdom on the earth daniel said though in daniel in fact nebuchadnezzar's dream in daniel chapter 2 lays out five kingdoms there were four laid out and then after he says after these god will set up his own kingdom a kingdom like those that has geography as a capital as it has subjects and so on and it's interesting that some of our modern theology tries to allegorize all of that and thus misses the point one's entire destiny rests upon the response to that offer isaiah 55 6 seek he the lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near proverbs 1 verse 24 because i have called ye refused i have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but you have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof i will also i also will laugh at your calamity i will mock when your fear cometh that's god talking when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind and distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but i will not answer they shall seek me early actually earnestly is probably the word but they shall not find me see there is a time when the door is closed for they that hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord that they would have they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fool shall destroy them but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil proverbs chapter 1. revelation we love that book how does it end near the end let's keep it in focus revelation 22 verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely that is so gracious is so open you don't want to be presumptuous so we're moving to the site next section is going to highlight the distinction between salvation and discipleship we talked about the difference between salvation and reigning let's go a little simpler salvation discipleship i was at a men's conference this past weekend had a crowded group how many of you guys are saved and hundreds of guys raised their hand i said how many of you are called who they weren't trying to answer that most many it did but they didn't salvation is available to all who will come by faith is based on what jesus has done discipleship is for believers willing to pay the price there is a cost there is a cost the word disciple is a learner an apprentice one who attaches himself to a teacher is the concept it's used 264 times in the gospels and acts which by the way is 24 times 11 i think the 24 is an interesting number told another discussion discipleship i think each one of us will may face a jerusalem a place of rejection a gethsemane an anguishing time of prayer and a golgotha appointed for us in the will of god those things may lie ahead are you ready for that like our savior we too must set our face like a flint that phrase comes up jesus set his mind focus on going to jerusalem knowing what was going to come he wasn't caught by surprise he knew in detail what was coming and he went forward i remember back in luke 9 they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to jerusalem they were upset about that bay back there at 9. that leads her to verse 62 he that no man put his hand in the plow looking back is fit for the kingdom of god that's in luke 9. isaiah 50 verse 7 for the lord god will help me therefore shall i not be confounded therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know that i shall not be ashamed set my face like a flint do you do that are you committed to following jesus wherever it may lead back to luke 14 where we're going here and there went there went great multitudes with him and he turned and he said unto them if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple the word hate there's unfortunate translation what the the language readings tend to imply it's not antagonism but just loving less than in in english it comes about that comes out a little strange many men come to me and and uh loves his father mother wife children less than me in other words jesus wants to be number one that's what he's that's what he's calling us for here and whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple you know what surprised me about that verse you and i hear that it makes sense we follow it except wait a minute this is luke 14. cross hasn't happened yet that's coming that's coming here he uses it as a metaphor right here already well in advance of the event and the cross was not a jewish thing in the first place they killed by stoning that was a persian that was a a method invented by the persians widely adopted by the romans and of course we see this from the vantage point of growing history but put yourself in luke 14 this is all yet coming just whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my cycle how interesting it is to use that idiom that strikes me strange and what does it mean to carry a cross are you carrying a cross what cross are you carrying what he's talking about here is a daily identification with christ in shame suffering and surrender to god's will that's what the metaphor is intended to convey right here daily identification with christ's shame that was a shameful death it's suffering it means death to self key phrase you need to understand that death to self death to your own plans and ambitions and a willingness to serve him as he directs that's the whole package that's the calling that's the calling you don't do that to get saved it only applies if you're already saved but are you called because in romans paul says in romans 8 and if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ if so be that we suffer with him your heirs with him if so be that you need to be a participant that we may also be glorified together second corinthians 1 7 same idea our hope of you is steadfast knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation the word partakers there is coinos by the way that's what the word coina means being a participant partakers cornunos partakers partners intimate companions that's why we call our ministry coined into a house that's why the institute is to the institute participants jesus used three illustrations to dramatize that discipleship must include planning and sacrifice that may surprise you so discipleship must include planning and sacrifice in hebrews 3 verse 14 a different word is used very similar concept though for we are made partakers of christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end are you a partaker of christ the word partaker there is the word medicoi that's one who shares in companion comrade partner in a work or officer dignity coinagos is the office metacore is the guy that occupies that office they're very similar ones a little more directed but in any case for we are made partakers of christ oops whoops there's a word there if there's a condition are you a partaker of christ well let's see do you meet the condition if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end oh there's something in here about finishing the race that you started right all the way to the end if we hold the beginning of our comments did pass to the end what is it that you must hold steadfast into the end your faith your commitment to him all the way through not for your salvation he did all that this is for your rewards your inheritance how do you become a medicoy well my wife and i have written a book called what we call the overcomers handbook the kingdom power and the glory so that's our attempt to create a handbook of how you go about that let's move on verse 28 for which of you intending to build a tower sits not down first and counteth the cost whether you have sufficient to finish it may surprise you to see this in christian literature you know planning is not an unchristian activity many people misunderstand jesus in matthew 6 34. remember back in in the in the mount jesus take therefore no thought for the morrow for tomorrow shall take thought of the things of itself sufficient in the day is the evil thereof he's talking about worrying he's talking about apprehensions we are to we are instructed to be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication let your request be made known to god philippians 4 6 but planning is simply the futurity of today's decision you push certain buttons you can you know what's going to happen if you don't have a budget you know you're going to be adrift if you have your budget driver plan planning is just the foundation of good stewardship planning is the futurity of today's it's not forecasting the future is understanding the futurity of today's decisions that's a big difference competent stewardship requires planning that includes your spiritual life where are you going to be spiritually a year from now will it be where you've just drifted or will it be the result of undertaking a systematic study of the word of god that's a lifetime thing it should be luke 14 29 left happily after you have laid the foundation is unable to finish it all but behold it will begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish he's talking about using the bridge or tower as an idiom here a metaphor paul's talking in acts 2024 but none of these things move me neither count i my life dear unto myself so that i might finish my course with joy and the ministry which i have received for the lord jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of god the goal was to finish well for salvation no for his inheritance and rewards inheritance is a reward for faithfulness there are aspects of your inheritance you can't lose like your sonship yes but there are aspects of your inheritance that is a reward for faithfulness and we need to understand that and that's one of the myths that's one of the errors many people everybody there many people teach that everybody's going to be equal in heaven i don't think so a lot of parables just to the opposite where you stand where are you you know the chinese christians really have a grasp on this they believe we're in the kingdom of preparation what we call them a name they call the kingdom of inheritance and they believe the responsibilities and authorities there will derive from their faithfulness now that's why they've embraced our book so strongly because they that it it conforms to the teachings of dr timothy lynn which is one of the primary influences in the chinese theological world paul says to timothy his last letter to timothy by the way he says i have fought a good fight i have finished my course i have kept the faith see that's his confidence of his performance he's not saved by his performance but he's rewarded for his performance we need to understand that it's astonishing to me to see the tension that creates when you start talking about accountability a a lot of christian and lots of pastors get very uptight about the subject no we're going to be held to accountability paul held himself and we look continuous here in verse 31 or what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he's able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand you know you do your sums as the british would say right or else while the other is yet away a great way off he said it and a passage and desireth conditions of peace for a country to gain her ends by force she has to be strong but to gain her ends by diplomacy she has to be twice as strong so likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple jesus talking forsaking all that he had that's the death the self thing the principle of sacrifice is also important in the realm of discipleship one must be willing to give up everything for jesus i won't ask for a show of hands but think about it are you willing to give up everything for jesus evangelist said if you're not willing are you willing to be made willie and that changed the life of some very prominent people anyway everyone here g campbell morgan sees the tower builder and the king is jesus he is the one that must count the cost determine whether we are the kind of material he can use to build the church and the battle and battle the enemy that's morgan's twist on this i don't quite see it that way but i share that with you because it's an interesting point of view he cannot get the job done with half-hearted followers who will not pay the price are you fully committed to jesus don't answer me think about it pray about it and answer him in verse 34 he brings up the term salt salt is good but if the salt have lost its savor wherewith shall it be seasoned see he had already said in the in the sermon on the mount in matthew chapter 5 you are the salt of the earth what does that mean what does it mean you're the salt of the earth what does that mean well it can mean several things salt was a preservative in that culture in the in that in that chemistry salt was the way you preserve things beef jerky and so that sort of thing so it was a preservative that's not all salt was a purifying agent are you a purifying agent there's a incense that you should be yeah salt also adds flavor to things right sure you have hash browns for breakfast without salt i don't think so salt also makes people thirsty and that's one compliment that people have given me from time to time is that i make them thirsty for the word of god i love that that's more important to me than teaching a specific point is to ex to to engender an appetite for the word of god because that'll endure the little tidbits you might learn from one of our studies okay that's fine no the real thing is to be is to develop a passion for an appetite for the word of god so let's say we should be a preservative we should be a purifying agent uh separating the bad from the good that sort of thing we certainly hopefully we add flavor to things life is rich and full and certainly empty in vain without it and salt makes people thirsty verse 35 it is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill but men cast it out he that have ears to hear let him hear there's that interesting word that interesting phrase and that occurs seven times in the seven letters seven churches referring to the church it occurs seven times throughout the gospels like this one hinting at the church it's a very interesting check phrase in my mind the climax of jesus teaching here salt is good only as long as it contains its characteristics of saltiness the day that you don't have those characteristics you're no longer salty anymore except in name only okay so for next session i want you to study luke chapter 15 and we're making progress here the gospel of luke we're in this whole session of just certain kinds of teaching um in chapter 16 we're going to undertake two very interesting things one the peculiar reference to the unjust steward jesus talks about a guy who cheated and points out how smart he was to cheat yeah you're looking at me startled check it out the unrighteous steward he knew he was going to get fired so he called his cr his his boss's creditors and said i should say the debtors how much does my boss owe you he jockeys the books so they won't own him quite as much so when he is fired he'll have a place to land that's that's that's it that's that's cheating that's wrong it's it's it's it's unethical and jesus commends his wisdom what on earth is jesus teaching us to do there so it's this very peculiar parable of the unjust steward the unrighteous story i should say but the other thing that we're going to discover in that chapter 16 is the most of what we think we know about the afterlife hell gehenna all that comes not from a parable a lot of people think it's a parable no it's an actual person has a name so that's all coming forth but we still have some distance to go so with that let's stand for our closing word of prayer

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Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020