Read the passage… “Did Jesus really mean what he said in verse 26?
We live in a time when many don’t mean what they say.
How many times have you done as I have…telling your children over and over that if they don’t stop doing something or if they don’t do something, you will spank them or if you do punish them it‘s not even close to what you said it would be?
After awhile they know that you don’t mean what you say or you would have done something about it a long time ago.
How important is a spirit of forgiveness to Jesus? How important should it be to you and me?
Because we run across people, on a daily basis, who don’t mean what they say, I think we fail to take Jesus at His Word.
Matthew 6: 14,15 “14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Luke 6: 37b “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Matthew 6: 12 “12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.”
I wonder how many of us would really want God to forgive us in the same way we are willing to forgive others who have offended us.
That’s exactly what this verse is saying…“Forgive me only as much as I am willing to forgive.”
Flip over to Matthew 18 and let’s look at a conversation that Peter had with Jesus and how Jesus brought the idea of forgiveness home.
In verse 21 of Matthew 18, peter may have been trying to impress Jesus with his willingness to forgive or he may have had a legitimate concern.
He asked Jesus just how many times should a person have to forgive…
**in other words just much do I have to say “it’s OK” before I can legitimately sock em in the nose?
Peter thought 7 times would be a gracious amount but Jesus turned the tables on him by saying “seventy times seven.” Jesus didn’t mean that you can stop forgiving someone after you have forgiven them 490 times. What He meant was that forgiveness has no limit and we should not be counting the times we forgive but focusing on how much WE have been forgiven.
I want to look at the idea of forgiveness from two different angles.
1. Look at God’s Spirit of forgiveness: vs. 23-27
Jesus then tells a parable to emphasize His point. He tells Peter about the Kingdom of heaven being like a king…v23.
This king calls one of his servant to pay up. This guy had an astronomical debt. 1 Talent= 16 years wages.
He owed 10,000 talents or 160,000 years worth of his wages…
What Jesus is saying is he had a debt that he can not possibly pay.
Because he could not pay the debt, the king ordered the servant, his family and possessions to be sold and the payment made.
The servant begged for mercy and received what he did not deserve…He didn’t just get some payment reduction or a loan adjustment…his debt was wiped clean.
How many of us would love for the bank to call and say… “we have forgiven your loan and you don’t owe anything.”
That’s what God did at Calvary…I owed a debt I could not pay and yet God looked at me with compassion and said “forgiven.”
If you are here and you know, without any doubt that Jesus is your Savior, you need to understand that’s what God did for you. “Forgiven”
The debt that you could not pay has been wiped clean by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ and you no longer have to worry about how you’ll pay it back.
After this servant had been forgiven so much, he went on the hunt for a “fellow servant” who owed him some money. The idea of a “fellow servant” meant that he was a fellow Believer…Christian…family.
This man’s debt was small in comparison to what the first guy owed. This “fellow servant” had a debt approximately one millionth of what the first guy owed the king.
In other words, this guy had offended the first servant FAR less than the first servant had offended the king…HOLD ON TO THAT THOUGHT…
2. Look at the SIN of un-forgiveness and the consequences: vs. 28-35
There are 5 steps involved in the spirit of un-forgiveness
1. He searched for the one who had offended him…owed him something.
The difference of debt was 100 DAYS or just over 3 months worth of salary vs. 160,000 YEARS.
Why did Jesus give us the figures of the debt? Look at vs. 24&28
He wants us to see the huge difference in our debt [offense] to God [the king] and a fellow servant…family…NO MATTER how much someone offends me…sins against me it can never compare to how much my sin has offended God.
When we understand this, we can see that refusing to forgive some one who has offended us is absolutely inexcusable in the eyes of God…No matter how deep or dark my sin is/was…God...through His Son forgave me…
When I understand this I realize that NOT FORGIVING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
2. He reacted severely. v28
Notice that he caught the one who had offended him by the throat…squeeze the payment out of him.
How many have thoughts of what they would like to do to the person/persons that have offended them?
We don want God to sit in judgment…”35 yrs ago, my brother ate the last chocolate chip cookie and I’m gonna watch him pay!!!… NOT FORGIVING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
3. He rejected any cry for mercy. V29,30a
He refused to forgive…Notice that the request this “fellow servant” made was the same request the first servant made too the king and HE was forgiven…
The King has forgiven you…MUCH…why can’t you forgive just a little?
Here’s why we can’t…Look at verse 30
4. He acted worldly. V30
Now I understand that the guy had a right to ask for restitution because the debt was legitimate BUT think about the point that Jesus was making here…You can not look at this with a worldly mindset. We must look through spiritual eyes to see the Truth that Jesus is speaking.
The king has compassion and mercy on us. God has yet to call us to pay the debt we owe. As a matter of fact He wiped our debt away, when He applied the blood of Jesus to our credit score.
You would think that after going through such a traumatic experience, the first servant would understand the idea of grace and mercy. You would think that after all we have been forgiven, we would, as well.
5. He grieved others. V31
The hearts of others ached for the one who was thrown into prison, as well as for the one who had him thrown in. They knew the king had forgiven the first servant a huge debt and their hearts ached to watch this servant, so quickly forget the compassion that had been shown him.
Jesus said they went and told the king what had been done.
There are people who see your pain and can’t do anything to change your situation BUT they can run and tells the King…pray for you…
They took the matter to the king…they refused to remain silent…watching the spirit of oppression over power their friends…family…fellow servants. I pray for those of you going through this that you will not develop a spirit of bitterness and un-forgiveness BECAUSE
**I read that medical doctors and scientist have linked certain diseases and even some mental sickness to bitterness and un-forgiveness.
I wonder how many are so sick and miserable, racked with disease because they’re carrying a spirit of bitterness and un-forgiveness around your neck?
“Pastor you have no idea what they did to me!” NO but I know what I did to God and God forgave me of EVERY offense…who am I to refuse to forgive those who have offended me?
I read about a lady who spoke to a preacher about her being unable to sense peace even after she had forgiven her ex-husband for all he had done to her and her family.
Her husband was a pastor who decided, one day that she was not the wife that God had chosen for her. He said that he had missed God’s call by marrying her and that it was God’s perfect will for him to run off with this prominent woman, in the church. He left his wife and boys to marry this woman, putting all the blame for a failed marriage on the wife.
During the conversation s realized that she was waiting for this husband to come back and admit that it was all his fault and to ask for her forgiveness.
The debt was not alimony or even child support. The debt she wanted him to pay was to admit that he was wrong and she was right…How long will you hold the same debt over someone’s head?
How long will you wait for them to come to you and admit that it’s all their fault and beg you to forgive them so you can tell them where to go?
What if Jesus waited for us to come to Him and apologize, say “Jesus, I was wrong and You were right. Will You forgive me now?”
**If He was waiting for that He would not have forgiven us from the Cross.
Luke 23: 34a “34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.””
I really need to show you this before I finish…I am about to step on some toes.
In Mark 11:26 Jesus uses the words “Your Father” but here in Matthew He uses “My Father” [read 35]
“So pastor what are you trying to say?”
Only this…If Jesus said “My Father” He meant that He was not “Your Father.” The servant who refused to forgive had no place in the kingdom. He may have called himself a servant but in reality he was not. LOOK AT Two things…
1. Are you absolutely sure that you have a part in the Kingdom of God?
To be unable to forgive could mean that I have never experienced forgiveness.
2. I have been forgiven but I have backslid so far that bitterness and a spirit of un-forgiveness has consumed me to the point that I have forgotten what God did for me…HE FORGAVE ME.
Bottom line: If I refuse to forgive I can not and will not be forgiven…INVITATION
