Luke 17

CHAPTER 17THEME: Jesus instructs His disciples on forgiveness; Jesus instructs His disciples on faithful service; Jesus heals ten lepers; Jesus speaks on the spiritual nature of God’s kingdom; Jesus speaks of His coming again

Luke 17:1

JESUS INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLESON FORGIVENESSWhat the Lord says here is very severe. I will be honest with you; I think I would rather be most any person than the one selling drugs to young people today. I believe that the punishment for one who sells drugs will be greater than for some others. It is serious business to cause someone, especially a youngster, to offend. There is one thing worse than going to hell; it is going to hell and having a son or daughter say to you, “Dad, I am here because I followed you.” That is the worst thing that can happen to a person.

Luke 17:3

In other words, His disciples should be ready always to forgive. He does not say that the one who offends should not be rebuked. He should be made to appreciate his fault, but when he sincerely repents, he should be forgiveneven if he repeats his sin over and over.

Luke 17:7

JESUS INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLESON FAITHFUL SERVICEOnce again Jesus is severe. There are those who talk about the gentle Jesus, but if you read some of these passages, you will find that He was not always gentle. He was gentle with children, but not with those who offended them. Let me make an application of this passage. There are people who believe that because they try to follow the Sermon on the Mount and are good neighbors and try to love people, that someday God is going to pat them on the back and say, “What a fine person you are. You have earned your way to heaven.” If you keep the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, which you cannot, you are doing only what you are supposed to do. Do you think you would receive salvation for that? My friend, that’s what you are supposed to do as one of His creatures. We need to recognize that salvation is a gift; you cannot work for it. Keeping God’s Law is a duty.

Luke 17:11

JESUS HEALS TEN LEPERS (ONE SAMARITAN RETURNS TO GIVE THANKS)Remember, our Lord is on His way to Jerusalem.

Luke 17:12

The Pharisees winced at this one!

Luke 17:17

Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one of the ten, who was a Samaritan, returned to thank Jesus for what He had done. Jesus then did a second thing for himHe forgave his sins. The other nine lepers were healed but were not saved. Thankfulness should be in the Christian’s heart. Why do you go to church on Sunday? Do you go there to worship God and thank Him for all He has done for you? Part of your worship is to thank Him. About the only thing we can give to God is our thanksgiving. How wonderful it is just to thank Him. We are even to make our requests to God with thanksgiving. We ought to have a thankful heart toward Him.

Luke 17:20

JESUS SPEAKS ON THE SPIRITUAL NATUREOF GOD’S KINGDOMJesus speaks of the fact that the “kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” To whom is He talking? He is answering the Pharisees who are demanding that He tell them when the Kingdom will come. He is not saying that the Kingdom of God is inside the hearts of these godless and hostile Pharisees. Rather, the Kingdom of God was in their midst, in the person of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was right then standing among them.

Luke 17:22

JESUS SPEAKS OF HIS COMING AGAINOne of the greatest delusions of our time is that man is going to improve himself and his world; that he is going to build the Kingdom of God without God. He expects to bring in the Millennium without Christ. Now the glorious day of the Kingdom was the subject of much of what Christ had to say. In fact, He emphasized the futurethe change coming and His return. A liberal theologian of the past, who had been teaching that Jesus was an ethical teacher, got tired of being a parrot, and began to study the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made the discovery (and he wrote a book on it) that Christ was an eschatological teacher, that His main subject was the future, His coming to earth again. In this important section before us, our Lord warns His disciples not to be deceived concerning His return. Now the return of Christ is in two phases. The first phase is what we call the “Rapture of the church” which is the taking away of true believers (detailed for us 1Th_4:13-18). But in this passage He is talking about the second phase of His return, which is returning to the earth to establish His Kingdom. This will take place after the Rapture and after the Great Tribulation. The first time He came, they failed to recognize Him because they were looking for a conquering Messiah to come and deliver them from Rome. Instead He came as a baby and lived as a peasant. The next time He comes it will not be in an isolated place like Bethlehem, but He will come in glory. Therefore He warns them not to pay any attention to those who say He is here or thereor who say He is coming at a certain time. This is one reason you cannot set the date of the coming of Christ.

Luke 17:24

When He comes to this earth to establish His Kingdom, it will be as public as lightning. Compare this with His extensive discourse in Matthew 24.

Luke 17:25

The cross was in the program of God. He went by way of the cross to get you and me. He outlined His program very clearly: He would suffer and be rejected by His people.

Luke 17:26

How was it in the days of Noah? What does He have reference to?

Luke 17:27

What is wrong with these things? Marriage is not wrongit is right. What is wrong with eating and drinking? We must do this to live. Why does Jesus mention these things? Well, the generation of Noah was living as if God did not exist when judgment was imminent. Today men and women are eating and drinking (and not even marrying though living together), and they do not recognize that the judgment of God is out there in the futurewhen, we do not know.

Luke 17:28

This is a tremendous thing our Lord says at this juncture. Lot is altogether different from Noah; yet there are similarities. None in Sodom were panicking, selling out their property and getting out of town. The stock market did not collapse because Lot said that judgment was coming. They simply didn’t believe it. God would not destroy the city until Lot had been taken out of it. Neither will He bring the Great Tribulation upon this earth (which immediately precedes the coming of Christ to the earth) until He takes His own out of the world. It is interesting that He uses Lot as an example here, which He does not do in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. The reason is that in Matthew, He is answering their question about His coming to earth to establish His Kingdom. Here in Luke it is a wider subject. Sodom, because of her sin, stood on the brink of destruction, and the moment Lot left town, judgment fell. I believe that the minute believers leave this earth in the Rapture, the Great Tribulation will begin.

Luke 17:30

God has a people in the world today who are just like Lot in many respects. Although they have trusted Christ as Savior, they compromise with the world. Yet as believers they will be taken out of the world before the day of judgment comes. Today the world doesn’t listen to the church. As in Lot’s day, they think we are mocking.

Luke 17:31

In Matthew’s account of the Olivet Discourse, the Lord Jesus labels this period the Great Tribulation.

Luke 17:32

She is an example of one who did not believe God. She had daughters and friends in Sodom. Probably they were having a bridge party that afternoon. She kept saying, “Let’s go back.” Why did she look back? She didn’t believe God would destroy that city. Therefore we are to remember Lot’s wife. To believe God is the important thing for us.

Luke 17:33

This is one of those great paradoxes of Scripture. In that day there will be a great scramble to save their lives, but it will be too late. They are to be willing to lose their lives and just turn them over to Jesus Christ. Any attempt to save life in that day will avoid nothing.

Luke 17:34

In the days of Noah, who was taken out of the world? Who was left in the world? This is not the Rapture He is talking about. This is, as in the Olivet Discourse in Mat_24:37-41, a direct reference to taking away the ungodly in judgment and leaving on earth those who will enter the millennial kingdom. Notice that Christ implied that the earth was roundone will be in bed and another working out in the field. There will be night on one side of the earth and day on the other side.

Luke 17:37

Compare this verse with Rev_19:17. This is what we call the Battle of Armaggedon, which is actually the war of Armageddon, and will be ended when Christ comes to establish His Kingdom upon the earth.