21 Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 So
when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved
and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such a tremendous honor and privilege to come together with you today for the study God's Word. God has been great in continuing to bless your efforts in reaching the lost and the deceived. We are reaching people and places as never before imagined, bringing more people to Christ. I thank God for those of you who have been so moved by His Spirit to support us in the ministry, whether by sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with your family and friends, or financially. I ask you will continue to join us in praying, asking God to continue to bless this ministry in reaching the lost, the broken and the hopeless. May He continue to bless our growth together as faithful followers
, as we lead others to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
We've been looking at church discipline and Christian behavior. If we are to call our fellow Christians to repentance when
they have fallen into sin, how many times must we forgive them? Sometimes our hate and unforgiveness is the only weapon we have to get even with someone who has offended us. Before there can be reconciliation, before you can recover from any deep wound, we have to forgive our enemies. Not only is unforgiveness is a serious sin, it's unacceptable to God.
We’ve been working our way through Matthew chapter 18, now we come to the final section of this great gospel. Since there are a number of verses left to cover, it will probably take us more than one or two lessons to complete. As Christians, we have a responsibility to forgive one another. This is a rather long, extensive presentation by our Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose we could say, He has much to say on the subject of forgiveness. We are never more like God than when we forgive.
As parents, we understand our children are going to fail. There are going to be times when they will make the wrong decision about something, and they will do the wrong thing because they’re still in the process of growing up and maturing. When they do, sometimes discipline is necessary. After discipline has been enacted, we forgive them. We can have difficulty forgiving adults, we think they should know better, that's why people often hold grudges against them, but it's rather abnormal for an adult to hold a grudge against children, especially their own.
As I contemplate my own life, I've come to realize we are all still learning and growing, at times, we are all weak, we all fail, and we all sin. God has commanded children to obey their parents, therefore they do not have the liberty to disobey or disregard our authority. Our job as parents, is to implement that principle of obedience lovingly, graciously and consistently. Erratic parenting is not beneficial for our children. That said, spiritually we are all God's children, always in need of forgiveness, believers are to be treated like children. Because God in Christ has forgiven us, we are commanded to forgive others. Forgiveness is so basic, so foundational to the Christian life. So, why do we have such a problem when somebody offends us?
In 2 Corinthians 2 Paul writes "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." We are not called to be vengeful, but forgiving. The word "forgiveness" means to dismiss, to release or abandon. When a judge "dismisses" the charges against a defendant, that person has been released of any wrong doing. When a person has been forgiven of a debt or loan, that person no longer bears any financial responsibility, as though it never existed. When God offers us forgiveness through faith in Christ, we accept Christ's atonement for our sin in full and we are released from any obligation to pay the debt for our sin, it's erased, as though our sin never existed. Forgiveness, then, is key to our having a right relationship with God and others.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word. We can't help feel that we have been confronted as we are once again called to face the reality of our inadequacy. We confess we have failed to forgive others as freely as we should. Thank You for all You’ve done that we might confess our sin, repent and receive forgiveness, how much we have been forgiven from. Lord, I thank You for calling me to the ministry, a calling of which I am so unworthy, and for every opportunity, every occasion to share Your goodness and glory, to exalt Christ and praise You telling others all that You have done in my life.
In Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: Finding Freedom In Forgiveness
How important is forgiveness? Families and marriages break up, ultimately because someone in the relationship refuses to forgive. Whether you’re talking about a friendship, a family, a marriage, or even a church, there isn’t a relationship where sin, in one form or another, doesn’t exist. Every relationship is then vulnerable, subject to offense.
It's been said the we are the best defense attorney of our own sin, while simultaneously being the best prosecutor of others. When we receive forgiveness through Christ, our eternal consequences are removed, but the earthy consequences of our sin remain. Therefore, we must each do our part in restoring broken relationships. Asking for forgiveness from those we've hurt and forgiving those who have hurt us. We must pray asking God to weave His love into the broken relationships in our lives.
Today we're going to be speaking about finding freedom in forgiveness. Since there is a great deal of profound teaching to cover, let's not delay in getting right to it.
Open your Bibles to the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 18:21-35. I invite you to follow along with me as I read them to you.
Let us open our hearts and see what the Spirit of God has to say to each of
us. I pray that the Spirit of God would help us to hear and apply what He's saying to each of us today. Matthew 18:21-35. "
Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus *said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So
when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved
and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
Let's look at verse 21, "Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Of course, Peter having an inquisitive mind and a quick tongue, is the first to speak. As an inquisitive child myself, never satisfied with a superficial answer, I drove my grandfather crazy, and as the father of an inquisitive child, who can sometimes drive me crazy asking questions, I completely relate to this. I like Peter, for his inquisitive mind and never being afraid to speak up. That shows his potential as a leader.
Many people don’t even want to forgive someone once, forgiveness is foreign to our fallen nature. We are much more inclined to become angry, filled with hatred, prone to vengeance and retaliation. There's little doubt that thinks that seven times is being extremely generous. Unbeknownst to him, Jesus has far more extreme standards when it comes to the number of times that we are to forgive a fellow Christian. The Jewish teachers in Jesus' day taught, based upon a misunderstanding of a text in the prophet Amos, that you should forgive someone of an offense up to three times. So, Peter is really going the extra mile, doubling the recommendation of the leading Jewish teachers or so he thinks. Knowing Peter, he’s probably patting himself on the back as he’s saying it.
In verse 22, listen to how He responds, "Jesus *said to him, "
I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." In case you're wondering, that is 490 times! We shouldn't ever assume that we can count the number of times we can offer someone forgiveness, especially when we consider how many times we've received forgiveness from the Lord.
Luke 12 He tells us, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." We should all appreciate unlimited forgiveness and be willing to forgive others in the same way! Forgiveness is the key to love. I know that some of you keep a tablet, with tally marks for how many times you have forgiven someone. Saying to yourselves, "Just one more time until you reach 490!" Jesus is using a hyperbole to show we are to forgive an unlimited number of times. As God's people, we are called to be like Jesus, the One Who said while hanging on the cross,
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
Verses 23 and 24, "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him." Given the amount of revenue in Galilee, this was an incomprehensible amount. The point Jesus is making here, is the man an amount that never could never repay to give us a picture of God’s forgiveness shown to us. Ten thousand in the Greek, was the largest number, it’s the word "murion." In fact, it would be more money than was in all of Israel at that time.
In verse 25, Jesus says "But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made." The king had every right to sell him, his wife and his children into slavery. This man was deep in debt, with no ability to pay. Himself and his family is all that he had. In a slave environment, they would have had some value, if only a few cents on the dollar. Isn't that a clear picture how we as sinners, come before God with an unpayable debt.
Look at verse 26, "So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything." The man throws himself on the mercy of the king, begging for compassion. He’s humble and broken. This a symbol of repentance. There is no way that we could ever pay our debt off, even if we tried our entire lives.
And in verse 27, "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt." It’s not hard to understand how this parable applies to us in our standing before God. He could easily send us to hell to receive some compensation for an unpayable debt. Instead, He chose to show us extreme forgiveness! Beloved, we are the servant and God is the king in this parable, demonstrating His extreme grace and forgiveness toward us. Our forgiveness toward others, should be equally as great and as limitless.
So how did the slave respond? Come back next time, and we'll find out.
In Closing..
Forgiveness is part of being of being a Christian, who better to understand that those who have come to Christ, who understand the enormous grace of forgiveness that exceeds the enormity of our sin. Oh the grace we have receive, it's difficult not to become overwhelmed when I contemplate that Christ was nail to that cross for my sin and yet, He graciously opened His arms wide to receive me and it didn’t change His love for me. Or you! God will forgive, but He wants us to understand for what and how much we have been forgiven. May we graciously extend that same love, grace and mercy toward others.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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