Sermon Tone Analysis

We know that Jesus and His disciples were heading south to Jerusalem but they did a trip down to Bethany about 2 miles from Jerusalem to see Lazarus and then they went back north about 20 miles to Ephraim and then a further 15 or so miles to Samaria and the Sea of Galilee.

They were now back to the road they probably would have been on otherwise.

They only went back north because of the threats against Jesus’ life and the time was not yet right for Jesus to be delivered up.

They were a few days away now from the day when Jesus would enter Jerusalem on His triumphant entry - but it is going to take us six more weeks to get there due to the enormous amount of things that happen on the way.

This is where the narrative slows right down and it is going to get more detailed as the next twelve or so days in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus develop.

These are, in effect, His farewell speeches and actions and more intense teaching to prepare the disciples for what is about to happen.

1-10

In these first ten verses we read that the disciples had asked for their faith to be increased.

Why?

Because Jesus had just told them that they had to forgive practically non-stop.

Our forgiveness to others is not dependent upon the genuineness of their repentance.

In this we also have our hope in God for He does not ask of us something He is not willing to do.

When we offend Him as often as we do whether the sin is large or small in our eyes, when we confess our sin to Him, He forgives us.

When others ask us to forgive them we are also expected to do so.

And it is essential to our spiritual well-being for this to happen.

We are being instructed by our Master here, there is no choice for us as servants.

We are only doing our duty.

This is not something that we should be congratulated upon, it is simply something we must do.

This leads me to ask “who is your worst enemy and whether you are able to forgive?”

Perhaps the worst enemy we need to forgive is ourselves.

And I really think I am speaking to myself here.

It bothers me that I keep getting things wrong.

It niggles me that perhaps God won’t forgive me this time but in the end I come to terms with the fact that He does.

But above all it takes me forever to forgive myself.

I am my own worst enemy.

It is I who must forgive myself.

Now I know I am not just speaking about myself for I think that many here in this place are the same.

You are your own worst enemy and so you must also forgive yourself.

God can forgive you but you can’t forgive you?

I have to tell you that this is an inverted form of pride.

We sin by not forgiving.

Yes, we sin by not forgiving others but we also sin when we think that we cannot be forgiven by God or by ourselves.

It is not only essential to our spiritual health that we forgive but it also preserves our mental, emotional and physical lives from going down the road of bitterness which studies have shown cause physical symptoms such as cancer, heart disease, stomach problems, headaches and so on.

We forgive for our own sake as well as in obedience to Jesus.

11-19

We are then told about ten lepers who were healed but, actually, only one was made well.

The ten received physical healing but only one received complete wholeness and it was the one who was thankful.

You may have heard the story of the man who was betrayed by a friend.

He went to him and asked, “How could you do this to me?

Who picked you up out of the gutter?

Who gave you your first job?

Who lent you money and bailed you out of jail?”

The reply was, “You did, that’s true.

But what have you done for me lately?”

On the other hand you have those who only can be thankful:

A son came home to visit his dad one weekend and went to help at his shop, and he said to him

“Dad, I don’t understand how you run this store.

You keep your accounts payable in a cigar box.

Your accounts receivable are on a spindle.

All your cash is in the register.

You never know what your profits are.” “Son, let me tell you something,” answered his dad.

“When I arrived in this land all I owned was the pants I was wearing.

Now your sister is an art teacher.

Your brother is a doctor.

You are a CPA.

Your mother and I own a house and a car and this little store.

Add that all up and subtract the pants and there is your profit.”

A well person has a sense of gratitude for any and all good fortune.

The fact is that the troubles were not over for this leper who came back so thankful.

He had no family, no job, no home.

We are called to be thankful in everything.

I touched on this verse on Wednesday, hear what the rest of it says:

This is God’s will for us.

We can be thankful for we know that no matter the situation we have the promise of God in:

William Law, eighteenth-century English theologian and clergyman, said, “If anyone can tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness and perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you, for it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.”

We are to rejoice instead of being down or disappointed for God is at work in the situation or place He has put you.

20-37

In the second part of today’s reading Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God in answer to questions raised.

There are two parts to the answer about God’s Kingdom.

One is, it is now, right now - that was the answer Jesus gave generally but especially to the Pharisees.

And the other answer was, not yet - that was the answer He gave His disciples.

It is both now and not yet.

God’s Kingdom is a grand scheme of the Bible and it simply means God’s rule for He is the King of all kings.

In the Garden of Eden was a perfect life where Adam and Eve lived under God’s rule perfectly and willingly until, that was, they didn’t.

And since then God has been seeking to restore the Kingdom by destroying sin and creating a people who are willing to be ruled by Him.

Hence Jesus coming into the world declaring that the Kingdom of God is at hand, meaning that He is the King who has come to restore order by destroying the works of the evil one.

The Pharisees asked about the kingdom of the One who is the King of kings and He was in their midst right then, right at that moment.

He had just proven His Kingship in the healing of the lepers.

But entrance into this kingdom is through a working in the heart of repentance towards God by the working of the Holy Spirit.

The rule of the kingdom is first inward.

You are in it or not.

This is the invisible Kingdom.

But then there is something that is not invisible about the Kingdom.

First, this is in our working this out in our lives in public and showing to the world the kingdom.

[I do not subscribe to some churches who think that the church will overcome and rule the world to place it into the hands of Jesus when He comes again.

Name it and claim it churches and prosperity gospel churches teach this along with what are collectively known as the New Apostolic Churches which are leading people astray.

This finds no place in the pages of Scripture.]

Secondly, there is going to be a very visible day when the things of this world will no longer be the same again.

Of course, everyday people have a last day.

For around 152,000 in fact today will be their last day.

There are those who are caught up in cataclysmic situations that people were not prepared for, whether that was of the Jewish people in Germany who could not believe a mass destruction was coming, or of an unsinkable ship like the Titanic, or a Tsunami that swept a quarter of a million people into eternity in one event.

These are all portends.

These are all warnings of the largest last day that will come.

Am I ready?

This, of course is one of the major reasons to tell others and get them ready for what is going to happen.

We need to be shouting ‘Fire!’ in a burning building.

Once there was a fire in my friend’s house in their kitchen and I was in the kitchen at the time.

I said: ‘Fire!’

No response.

The second time I said: “Fire!” my friend came running and was able to put out the fire.

Just a couple of weeks later their kitchen was gutted by the same appliance.

The point is we need a sense of urgency, not like I said “Fire!” the first time, but how I said it the second.

Because otherwise people whom we love will not be prepared.