Welcome! It’s Tuesday Bible Study time again! Oh how glad I am that you’ve come to join me. Today we’re in Luke 17 and this one is going to be a little different. Stay with me, now, it won’t lose you, my goal is to make it so you are more focused while studying with me.
But first, we must pray.
Lord Jesus, I heard You and I’m going to need You to help me do this. So guide us, help us focus, help us see, help us understand. Lead on, Lord. For Your glory, Lord.
Please read Luke 17:1-4
Instructions
1 Jesus said to His disciples, “Stumbling blocks [temptations and traps set to lure one to sin] are sure to come, but woe (judgment is coming) to him through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone [as large as one turned by a donkey] were hung around his neck and he were hurled into the sea, than for him to cause one of these [a]little ones to stumble [in sin and lose faith]. 3 Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God’s precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him [that is, give up resentment and consider the offense recalled and annulled].”
Warning for stumbling blocks and judgement for those who bring them.
He said: “Pay _______________ and always _________________.” The brackets add: Look __________________________________.
Meaning we are to care for one another.
Look at the brackets on verse 4 again. Give up _____________ and consider __________________ recalled and ______________.
Please read Luke 17:5-6
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith [our ability to confidently trust in God and in His power].” 6 And the Lord said, “If you [b]have [confident, abiding] faith in God [even as small] as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree [which has very strong roots], ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea’; and [if the request was in agreement with the will of God] it would have obeyed you.
“If you have [_____________________________] faith in God… and if the request was in agreement with [_______________________] it would have _________________.”
Do you have confident and abiding faith? Stick with me, as I abide in God, and you will not just have a mustard seed of faith, but you will learn how to grow that seed into an impenetrable shield.
Please read Luke 17:7-10
7“Which of you who has a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat?’ 8 Will he not instead say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and appropriately clothe yourself [for service] and serve me while I eat and drink; then afterward you may eat and drink?’ 9 He does not thank the servant just because he did what he was ordered to do, does he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants [undeserving of praise or a reward, for we have not gone beyond our obligation]; we have merely done what we ought to do.’”
‘When you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, We are [undeserving of praise or a reward, for we have not gone beyond our obligation]; we have merely done what we _________________.” Have you done what was assigned and commanded? Or even what was commanded?
Forgive us, Lord, for all the ways we forget and neglect to do what you have assigned and commanded us to do.
Please read Luke 17:11-19
Ten Lepers Cleansed
11 While Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing [along the border] between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance; 13 and they raised their voices and called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were [miraculously] healed and made clean. 15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying and praising and honoring God with a loud voice; 16 and he lay face downward at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him [over and over]. He was a [c]Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten [of you] cleansed? Where are the [other] nine? 18 Was there no one found to return and to give thanks and praise to God, except this foreigner?” 19 Jesus said to him, “Get up and go [on your way]. Your faith [your personal trust in Me and your confidence in God’s power] has restored you to health.”
This story always makes my heart ache. That question, “Where are the [other] nine?” Where indeed. Were they not also healed? When they saw the Samaritan run back, why didn’t one or more of them realize they should go too?
Jesus said to the ‘foreigner’ “Get up and go. Your faith [___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ] has restored you to health.”
Personal, faith is personal. Trust, well, there are amazing benefits to Trust, and if you ask Him, He will teach you. Sometimes you won’t even need to ask and He’ll provide the tests. Every time you pass one, your faith will grow.
Confidence in God’s power. Study your Bible, believe. God has unlimited power and is beyond capable to do whatever he has promised and He is shielding you as you grow your faith and live by faith and find your refuge in Him.
Please read Luke 17:20-21
20 Now having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a visible display; 21 nor will people say, ‘Look! Here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the kingdom of God is among you [because of My presence].”
Abide in Him and You are in the Kingdom. Belong to Him and you are in the Kingdom. It’s His Presence that makes all the difference.
Please read Luke 17:22-24
Second Coming Foretold
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see [even] one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look [the Messiah is] there!’ or ‘Look [He is] here!’ Do not go away [to see Him], and do not run after them. 24 For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part [d]of the sky, gives light to the other part [e]of the sky, so [visible] will the Son of Man be in His day.”
That promise right there. That one inspires a lot of confidence. We haven’t and we won’t miss it. We will see it. So visible will the Son of Man be in His day.
Please read Luke 17:25-2725 “But first He must suffer many things and be repudiated and rejected and considered unfit [to be the Messiah] by this [unbelieving] generation. 26 And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the [f]time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man: 27 the people were [g]eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, [they were indifferent to God] until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Pay attention! Always be on guard. Do not be indifferent to God. He is worth all your thoughts, all your faith, all your life.
Please read Luke 17:28-3028 “It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building [carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins]; 29 but on the [very] day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.”
‘Carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins,’ oh Lord, that we would pay attention and be on guard against all the ways life can draw us away from You.
Please read Luke 17:31-3231 “On that day, whoever is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, must not come down [and go inside] to take them out; and likewise whoever is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember [what happened to] Lot’s wife [when she looked back]!”
This one is hard to understand, but remember Lot’s wife? She turned back and was turned to salt. I don’t want to take my eyes off Jesus. His return will be great and glorious and is much anticipated.
Please read Luke 17:33-3733 “Whoever seeks to save his [h]life will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] will keep it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God]. 34 I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the [i]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the [j]other (the believer) will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the [k]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. 36 [l][Two men will be in the field; [m]one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And they asked Him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”
Hold onto your faith. Grow your faith. It is Faith that He is looking for, so believe.
Footnotes
Luke 17:2 I.e. believers.
Luke 17:6 Jesus used this moment to emphasize that a person’s confident, abiding faith combined with God’s will and power can produce absolutely amazing results. God is fully capable of doing that which man regards as impossible (Mark 14:36; James 4:3).
Luke 17:16 The Samaritans and the Jews ordinarily despised each other.
Luke 17:24 Lit under heaven.
Luke 17:24 Lit under heaven.
Luke 17:26 This refers to the beginning of the Millennial kingdom when Christ returns physically and rules on earth.
Luke 17:27 I.e. the people of Noah’s time were living lives of ignorant bliss, without any concern or fear that their sins would bring down on them the judgment of God.
Luke 17:33 Or soul.
Luke 17:34 This is not the sudden catching up (or rapture) of believers as described in 1 Thess 4:13-18 when Christ returns in the air (not to earth), and gathers believers to be with Him.
Luke 17:34 The believers are left and will be with Christ on the earth during the Millennium.
Luke 17:35 See note v 34.
Luke 17:36 This v is not found in early mss, nor in many late ones.
Luke 17:36 See note v 34.