"HOW MUCH OWEST THOU TO MY LORD?"

LUKE 16:1

A. OUR WORLD IS LOADED WITH DEBTS
  1. Financial obligations:
  2. Moral shortcomings: Matt. 6:12; Rom. 3:19; Isa. 24:1-19
B. "HOW MUCH OWEST THOU TO MY LORD?"
  1. Very few persons ever stop and think of their indebtedness to God:
    1. They forget that they are not their own - 1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 14:7
    2. They seem to be unaware of the fact that, at best, we all are unworthy stewards of God's goods - 1 Pet. 4:10
    3. And that some day we shall have to give an accounting of our stewardship - 2 Cor. 5:10
  2. A prayerful study of the Bible shows that our obligations to God are sevenfold:
    1. We have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means that we are deeply indebted to God - Ps. 130:1-3; Luke 5:4-9; 18:13
    2. We are indebted to Christ for paying our debts with His own life - Isa. 53:1-12; Rom. 8:31-33; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:20
    3. Our talents and our possessions are the Lord's - Matt. 25:14-30
    4. Our very lives are but the gift of the Lord - Rom. 14:7, 8; Dan. 5:23; Acts 17:25
    5. We have made, at different times, vows to God and that is a solemn obligation to Him - Ps. 50:14; 56:12
    6. Our knowledge of His holy will obligates us to Him - Rom 1:14-17; Jas. 4:17
    7. The God-given opportunities obligate us to God to use them wisely and to God's glory - Luke 14:16-25 EXAMPLES -
      1. Hezekiah failed to glorify God at a time when he could have done it to God's glory - Isa. 39:1-8
      2. Moses failed to glorify God at a time when he could have directed his people to the Lord - Num. 20:11-14
      3. Daniel did glorify God in Babylon - Dan. 1:8; 6:10
C. WHY THIS QUESTION?
  1. What Christ did for us brings our obligations to Him into sharp focus:
    1. He gave himself for me; that obligates me to Him - Gal. 2:20
    2. I am a poor sinner, a blood bought trophy of God's grace - Acts 20:28
    3. We all are, by creation and by redemption, the Lord's.
    4. He did everything to save us, and He still pleads our case before God - Heb 7:24-26
  2. Solemn questions demand solemn answers:
    1. That was true when God questioned our first parents - Gen. 3:9
    2. It was true when He asked Cain about his brother Abel - Gen. 4:9
    3. And that will be true when the King asks the wedding guest as to why he entered without the proper wedding garment - Matt. 22:12
  3. Questions serve a threefold purpose:
    1. They are to arrest our attention; to get us to stop and think! EXAMPLES -
      1. "Whose shall those things be, which thou hast prepared?" - Luke 12:20
      2. "Whence camest thou? and whither goest thou?" - Gen. 16:8
    2. They demand an answer. That is why questions are asked.
    3. They are to bring about a change in our attitude to God and men. EXAMPLES -
      1. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" - Acts 9:4.
      2. "What doest thou here, Elijah?"- 1 Ki. 19:9
  4. Friends of mine, have you ever attempted to find an answer to our opening text?
    1. How much owest thou my Lord?
    2. Have you ever attempted to straighten out your account with God?
    3. There is, to my knowledge only one solution to our indebtedness, and that is found in Christ alone - Rom. 8:1-3
    4. Is that your answer?


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