Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, we're beginning a short series on why Christians need to have standards and convictions. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Steve Pettit. Well, if you have a copy of the Bible, I'm going to ask you to take it and please turn with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 17 this morning.
And in just a few moments, we're going to read verses 3 down to verse 5. This week we are considering the importance of why you as a believer should have strong standards and convictions. Bob Jones has always been known, both the university and its graduates, have always been known for the fact that they've had strong convictions and strong standards. And they've tried to live out their faith with consistency. One of the great burdens of the founder of the school was he knew the history of universities in the United States of America, who started out as religious institutions, who started out believing the Bible, started out believing the Gospel.
And it's somewhere along the line. They gave up their faith and those schools have turned against the faith and in many cases have become the enemies of the faith. And so he was always concerned about the school maintaining its convictions and standards. And in part, that's one of the reasons why we say the creed every day in chapel. So what I'd like to do this morning is to consider a conversation that Jesus had with his disciples that I think gives us insights and how we should approach the idea of standards and convictions. So let's look this morning in the book of Luke chapter 17 and notice, if you will please, verse 3 down to verse 5.
Let's hear what God says. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And 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. Now as we look at this passage of scripture, I want us to look at three things this morning. The purpose of this is to look at it from the idea of standards and convictions and to draw out of it insights for our own personal life as we establish convictions and standards. And the first thing I want us to note this morning is that Jesus clearly sets standards of behavior for all believers. We have here a very specific example where Jesus establishes a standard for something specific in our life.
And what is that? It is the way that we are to forgive. Notice what he says. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. The example that is being set here is if somebody sins against you and they ask forgiveness, what are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do if somebody says, please forgive me?
What are you to do? You are to forgive them. That's the standard.
And of course, if believers do not forgive, then they are living below the standard of God. So Jesus sets standards for all believers. By the way, what is a standard? Let me give you a simple definition.
This is just right out of the dictionary. First of all, it's a level of quality or attainment. For example, the restaurant offers a high standard of service.
So what is it? It's a level of quality. Secondly, it's an idea or thing that is used as a measure or a model in a comparative evaluation.
For example, the wages today are low by today's standard. So a standard essentially is something that is established as something that is quality or something that is a measure. And what Jesus does is He sets a high standard for all believers, and that is we are to forgive those who seek forgiveness. And let me say this, that this standard of behavior for all believers is not just for believers here.
It's for believers in all places at all times. For example, God's standards for Christians are not conditioned by your location. God doesn't have a standard for Christians living in India and Christians living in Scotland that are different. All standards in the Bible are for all of God's people at all times.
It's not conditioned on when. For example, the standard for 500 years ago is no different than the standard for 100 years ago or the standard for today. God's standard for His people are the same in all places in all times, and this standard that Jesus establishes is rooted in a conviction or a belief. What is a conviction? A standard is a measure.
We've already mentioned that. But what is a conviction? A conviction by definition is a strongly held belief, and all of our standards flow out of our convictions. And in this standard of forgiveness, what is the conviction?
Or let me put it this way, what is it that we are to believe that motivates us to have this standard? And the answer is the conviction is the grace of God. That is, we forgive others because we are motivated by the grace that has been shown to us in the Gospel.
What does Paul say in Ephesians 4? And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Gospel grace is that God has been kind to us, God has forgiven us, and out of that belief, what should we do? We should forgive others. The primary motivation then, therefore, for standards of behavior and the life of the believer for us are always rooted in the conviction of what God has done for us.
Let me make it really simple. Our behavior should always flow out of our belief. Our standards should always flow out of our convictions. And do you realize that the whole New Testament that is written in this format where we are called to live out and experience what God has done in our lives through grace? In other words, our standards are rooted in what the Lord has done. For example, think of what grace has done for you. Grace says you are dead, now you're alive. Grace says you are lost, now you're found. Grace says you are in the kingdom of Satan, now you're in the kingdom of God's Son. Grace says you are slaves, now you're free. Grace says you are the worst of enemies with God, now you're the best of friends.
So, what is a standard? It's living out that belief. For example, we're to live out our reconciliation. We're to live out our redemption.
We're to live out our adoption. We're to live out our salvation. We're to live out our regeneration.
He is simply saying this, you are to be what you are. Our living is to be a reflection of God's giving. The whole book of Ephesians is written this way. For example, chapters 1 through 3 in Ephesians, we have the wealth of the believer. In chapters 4 through 6, we have the walk of the believer. And in the last chapter, we have the warfare of the believer. And this was Paul's method. He laid out what God has done first. That is, we come to know who we are first.
That's our identity. And we believe this. And then out of that, we know what we are to do. So, Jesus established a standard of behavior as an outworking of God's grace. Why should we forgive others? Because we have been forgiven in Christ. So, the first thing I want to say this is that Jesus established a standard of behavior for the child of God to whom much is given out of Him, much will be required. So, that's the first thing I want to say. What's the foundation for your standards?
It's always the grace of God, what He's done in your life. Now, that leads to the second thing. That is, Jesus' standards of behavior here are impossible to achieve by human means. What Jesus established as a standard of behavior, to be honest with you, would be very discouraging if you had to do it all yourself.
I mean, consider what He said. He said, if somebody sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, what must you do? He says, you must forgive him. And what did the disciples say to Jesus? Let me put it in modern language. They went, whoa.
They went, really? Because they said, increase our faith. Now, why did they respond that way? Because in the day of Christ, the normal approach to forgiveness had limitations to it. The Jewish rabbis taught that you're to forgive up to three times. After that, it's not unlimited. You know, there's a limitation. Remember when Peter asked the Lord, Lord, how often should I forgive? And He suggested to Jesus three times. Why? Because that's what the rabbis were teaching. That's the limitation.
Go all the way up to the limitation. But what did Jesus say to Peter? He said, no, you don't forgive three times. You're to forgive 70 times seven.
In this case, in this passage, Jesus says seven times. The point of the matter is that your forgiveness is to be unlimited. Now, let me ask you a question.
Do you think that that's easy? If somebody sins against you seven times in a day. Now, think about this. If your car's parked on the back part of the car parking lot and a freshman runs into your car, hits it.
A parked car, okay? And all of a sudden, the news comes to you, and the guy says to you that hits your car, man, I'm so sorry. Would you please forgive me? And you think irritatingly, sure, I forgive you. It's all good.
Okay. So He did that at eight o'clock in the morning getting here to school. And then right before chapel, He goes out and He hits your car again. And He comes back and He says, man, I am so sorry.
You're sitting there thinking, what is your problem, dude? And then after lunch, He runs out and He hits your car again. That's three times. And then hits your car at three o'clock, hits your car at five o'clock, hits your car at seven o'clock, that's six times. And six times, you say, I forgive you.
How many of you will eventually give up? In other words, the point of the matter is, the more you forgive, the harder it is. And I think in this case, we have both literal seven times, and we have symbolic 70 times seven. By the way, if you forgive somebody 490 times, that's 70 times seven.
That's called a habit. And I think what the Lord is trying to teach us is that the standard of behavior for the believer is always higher than what you can naturally achieve. You see, that's the problem with all of us. We see the standard, and immediately we think that's what I am supposed to do without saying, God, increase my faith. Lord, this is not something that is hard. This is something that is impossible.
Why? Because grace says, I can't, but God can. You are saved by grace.
It's God's gift. You did nothing to achieve salvation. You don't earn salvation. You don't merit salvation.
You can't do that. But he's saying, I am calling you to a standard of behavior that is higher and greater than anything you can do. You say, how do you know that, preacher? Because in Matthew chapter five, Jesus says in six different ways that our righteousness, that is our standards of behavior, should exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees if we're going to get into the kingdom of heaven. Think about that. So what does he do?
He gives illustrations. Jesus says that we're not only not to murder. That's a standard of behavior. Don't kill people.
But he gives another standard. He says we shouldn't be angry and hate other people in our heart. Now, it's one thing not to kill somebody.
It's another thing never to get angry or hate people. Jesus said that not only should we not commit adultery, but he said we should banish lust from our hearts. The first one we would think of is achievable.
The second one we would think of as impossible. And yet, the standard of behavior that he sets for us is beyond human capability. Matthew 5 48, he summarizes his commands when he says, be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Jesus' standard of behavior is far greater than what one can naturally achieve. That's why these standards are primarily speaking of the qualities that flow out of a new heart, a new life, a heart that flows out of the springs of regeneration.
Out of your innermost being, Jesus said, shall flow rivers of living water. I'm telling you, you cannot live this way apart from the grace of God. I want to say this, that anybody can follow external religious standards. You thought I was going to talk about dress standards today. Dress standards are easy. All you got to do is put on clothes.
I mean, really, how hard is that? You know, the things you do, the things you don't, you can do that. But these standards that Jesus calls us to is actually the standard that comes out of a renewed heart, out of a new man. The old man is crucified, the new man is resurrected, and out of that comes a new life, the fruit of a spirit-controlled life. And so what Jesus calls us to is a standard of behavior that is impossible to achieve by human means.
That leads me to the third and last thing, and that is this. The disciples realized that living according to God's standards meant that their faith had to grow. What did the apostles say to the Lord? They said, Lord, increase our faith.
That was their response. And the word increase here means to add to something that already exists. It's not like the believers didn't have any faith. It's just that they needed more. It's that their faith needed to grow. It needed to expand. It needed to have a greater capacity. So why did they say faith?
I mean, think about it. If you think about the term of forgiveness, what is it that we would think that would need to grow? Instead of faith, we would say, Lord, help my love to grow.
Lord, help me to love people more so I'm willing to forgive. But that's not what they prayed for. They said, Lord, increase our faith. So why faith as the means by which we live according to God's standards? The answer, I believe, is found in Hebrews 10 and 11.
Would you take your Bibles and turn there? In Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 38, and I'm just going to read the phrase, I'm not going to spend all the time explaining everything, but it's something that is found throughout scripture where it says these words, but my righteous one, the just, shall live by faith. Righteousness in the Bible is always in reference to standards of behavior that are established by God. And He says, my just ones, my righteous ones, how do they live their life?
They to live their life by faith. That's the declaration. So where does He explain faith? It's found in Hebrews 11 and verse 1.
Let's notice what it says. It says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So this is what the disciples asked for.
You're supposed to forgive people seven times in a day. Lord, increase our faith. What's He talking about here? He tells us here in verse 1. And essentially, if I could put it in one simple statement and then explain it, faith lives with dynamic certainty. Faith lives with dynamic certainty. And we see that here when He says, first of all, faith is the substance of things hoped for. That is, it is the dynamic certainty about the future. The word substance there means foundation, like the foundation of a house.
Something that stands under, something that is solid. The writer of Hebrews uses the same word in Hebrews 3.14 when he says, we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. What is faith? Faith is a form of certainty.
It is a form of confidence. And in this statement, it is a confidence about the hopes of the future. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.
And here's the point he's saying. He is saying those things that God has promised in the future, our future hopes are real to me. And my faith makes them real. I really believe. Now some of you, I'm not really sure you believe. The fact is, I'm convinced after being here for a while that there are many of you that have a head knowledge of the Lord but you are not saved because it ain't in your heart. Because faith, real faith, lives with a confidence about the future. I really believe these things.
Let me give you an illustration. Jesus said to his disciples that he was going to go to Jerusalem in Luke 18. And he told them exactly what was going to happen. He said that it was prophesied that he will be delivered to the Gentiles, he will be mocked, shamefully treated, spit upon, and after beating him they will kill him. Now listen to this, and on the third day he will rise. What was the hope that Jesus had? The hope that Jesus had was that after his death he would rise from the dead. And that hope that Jesus had was so certain and he was so confident, he said this is going to happen.
That is what faith is. It is the inner certainty about the future that makes it real to me. That is that the return of Jesus is real.
He's coming back. The resurrection from the dead is real. I don't stand at a graveyard when somebody buries a loved one and I sit there and I weep as those that have no hope. Because brother, I'm going to tell you right now, the most exciting place on planet earth is the day of the rapture and the resurrection from the dead. Let me tell you something, you can go to all the amusement parks you want on the day of the rapture. I'm going to go to the graveyard and watch what happens. Because the dead shall rise in Christ.
And that's not something I'm believing in the future. I believe it today because it could happen at any moment. Faith is so certain and so confident that it celebrates the future now. By the way, what do you think worship is all about?
When you come to sing, what are you doing? You're singing about things that we have faith in, we believe. And therefore there's a certainty, there's a confidence, there is an excitement. Let me put it simple, faith starts the party now. Come on now, don't you think you're going to be excited on resurrection day?
Don't you think you're going to be excited when you get a glorified body that will never die, never get old, never get sick, never be diseased? And what he's saying is that faith is of such a nature that it gives a dynamic force and a power to the present. It is the kind of faith that moves us to action.
The just shall live by faith. All right, Lord, I'm supposed to forgive that dude seven times for hitting my car? All right, Lord, I believe you. I trust you. I'm going to do it. I forgive.
There are some of you sitting right here right now. You can't forgive anybody for the one thing they've done because you don't even think that they meant what they said. Well, let me ask you a question. Did they ask you to forgive them?
That's what you're supposed to do. And faith has this dynamic certainty about the future, but notice secondly, faith has a dynamic certainty about the unseen. For it says, it is the evidence of things not seen.
And the word evidence here is the word for conviction, like being in a court of law because people can't be convicted in a court of law without evidence. So what he's saying is that faith is convinced that there are unseen realities. We read it in Hebrews.
It says, He sees Him who is invisible, whom having not seen, you love. By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, the flood, and reverent fear constructed an ark. Abraham went out not knowing where he was going for, he was looking for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. He hadn't seen it, but he believed in it. By faith, Moses leaves Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. And then it says, kind of as a conclusion for the whole group, that he's all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them afar off. Faith sees what is not seen, and we are certain that it is there. Let me say this, that faith sees what cannot be seen, but we know it's already there. For example, in Genesis 28, Jacob is fleeing Esau, his brother, into the wilderness.
He's feeling abandoned and all alone, and he lays his head on a rock. He's tired and he sleeps, and in Genesis 28, 12 says, that Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And that moment, he saw what had been there all the time, angels working between heaven and earth on his behalf, and he wakes up, and it says, when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, surely, the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. Do you realize that faith sees what cannot be seen, but we already know it's there? Do you realize that God is alive, and God is real, and God is at work? God's not gone on vacation. God is answering prayer. God is working providentially in our behalf.
We know this is true. We know that there's a heaven. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
We see what cannot be seen, but we know it's already there. Elisha told his servant, who came back after going out to get water in the morning, and he looked up, and he saw the armies of the king of Syria with their horses and chariots all around the city. And the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? And Elisha said, do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Elisha prayed and said, oh, Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. What did he see? He saw what was already there, but he couldn't see it until his eyes of faith were opened. So when the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith, what they were praying for is a stronger belief in the reality of God with a dynamic certainty about the future and about that which is unseen. Now, when Jesus set this high standard of behavior, the disciples were convicted of their low level of living.
Let me ask you a question this morning. Are you convicted about your low level of living? And what should you pray? Lord, increase our faith. When Christian standards of behavior are low, it's because believers' convictions are weak, and their faith is diminishing. But if our faith increases, then our convictions grow. And when our convictions grow, our standards rise, and we live out who we are. So may we pray in this week, Lord, increase our faith that we would be strong in faith and strong in convictions, living out what can only be lived by the grace of God. Father, thank you for your word this morning, and Lord, help us to grow in faith and the reality and the certainty of these things that you have set before us that we might live our life today for your glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.
