Luke 16:13-18

Luke 16:13-18

1. These verses teach us the uselessness of attempting to serve God with a divided heart.
2. These verses teach us how widely different is the estimate set on things by man from that which is set on things by God.
3. These verses teach us the dignity and sanctity of the law of God.

"If it is worthwhile to serve Christ at all, let us serve Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind and strength."

"Riches, and honors, and rank, and pleasure, are the chief objects for which the greater part of mankind are living. Yet these are the very things which God declares to be "vanity," and of the love of which He warns us to beware! Praying, and Bible-reading, and holy living, and repentance, and faith, and grace, and communion with God, are things for which few care at all. Yet these are the very things which God in His Bible is ever urging on our attention!"

"[The law] is intended to show us God's holiness and our sinfulness--to convince us of sin and to lead us to Christ--to show us how to live after we have come to Christ, and to teach us what to follow and what to avoid. He that so uses the law will find it a true friend to his soul."

Questions:

1. In this passage we are warned of serving God and money, a better word being mammon, which means possessions and money. Ryle reveals that many are trying to do the impossible: to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. It is an important question to ask: are we trying to live for both? Do we, as Ryle warns, live in a state of discomfort? They we too much religion to be happy in the world, and too much of the world in our hearts to be happy in our religion?

2. Jesus says that what the Pharisees love are an abomination to the Lord. Do we value the things that God values, and do we hate the things that God hates? For who’s opinion are we living for?

3. There is much confusion in our day regarding the relationship between the law and the gospel. A great summary of Ryle’s point comes from a puritan who said, ‘the law points us to Christ for salvation, and then Christ points us to the law for how the saved are to live.’ And so the question for us, from 1 Timothy 1:8 is: are we using the law lawfully?