God Wants Us To Be Forgiven And Forgiving Series

God wants Us to Be Forgiven and Forgiving

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared October 21, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 18. Last time in vs. 14-20, we studied the Lord's great priority for unity in His Church. Our harmony is essential because Christ's greatest purpose for coming was to seek and save the lost by dying on the cross for our sins. But Jesus knew that our selfish attitudes and arguments would be a terrible stumbling block to the Gospel. And this was the serious problem the Lord faced in Matthew 18.

*The disciples had been arguing with each other about which one of them was the greatest. That's why in Matthew 18:1 the disciples asked Jesus, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?''

*Mark 9:33-35 gives us the background and says:

33. Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?''

34. But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.

35. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.''

*On the road, maybe all of them thought they deserved to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And they were stubborn about it, even up to the night before the cross. That's why in vs. 1-4 Jesus explained to His disciples that they were thinking with the world's prideful, upside-down view of greatness. And He showed them godly greatness through a humble, little child who trusted in his loving parents. (1)

*In vs. 5-6 Jesus highlighted the importance of little children, and He gave a stern warning to anyone who tried to lead them away from God. In vs. 7-9 Jesus also spoke of God's certain punishment for sin. Eternal punishment in the fires of hell is what everyone deserves, and what everyone will receive, UNLESS they receive God's forgiveness by receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

*Next in vs. 10 Jesus warned against despising little children, and in vs. 11-14 the Lord spoke of Himself as a good shepherd who searched the mountains to save his lost sheep. And Jesus said, "It is not my Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish." Thank God for that!

*Then in vs. 15-17 Jesus gave us very clear directions on how to settle disagreements in His Church. And in vs. 18-20 He teaches Christians that our times of united, public prayer are powerful and filled with the presence of God.

*All of this truth was given in response to the proud, stubborn argument the disciples had on the road to Capernaum. They were falling short of the Lord's expectations, and sometimes we will too. We will also let each other down, so there will be times we need forgiveness, and times when we need to give it. That's why Jesus began to teach about forgiveness in vs. 21-35.

MESSAGE:

*Some things go together: Peanut butter and Jelly, bacon and eggs, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and dumplings, sun and fun, Batman and Robin. Some things go together, and today's Scripture shows us two things that must go together for us as Christians: God wants us to be both forgiven and forgiving. How can we get there?

1. FIRST: WE NEED TO COUNT THE COST OF OUR SIN DEBT.

*Again, the background for this discussion was an argument among the Lord's disciples. That's why Peter brought up the issue of forgiveness in vs. 21: "Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?'''

*The original word for "forgive" here means "to cancel the debt," or "set someone forever free from an obligation." And that's the way God is willing to forgive us through the cross of Jesus Christ! But Peter's question reminds us that we will need to forgive other people, because none of us is perfect yet. Do you think any of us have lived a perfect life this past week? One day a man walked up to Evangelist D. L. Moody, and this man said that he had no sin in his life. Mr. Moody just replied, "Well, I would like to ask your wife about that." (2)

*Richard Wilson said, "Some folks think they are good, really good people. Let's suppose that a person only sins 3 times a day: A sin in the morning, a sin during the day and a sin at night. Sounds like a pretty good person! But if that person lives to be 70 years old, they will commit 76,650 sins in their lifetime." (And that doesn't include leap years!) (3)