Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today I would like to speak to us about a topic that I think all of us can struggle with at some time or the other.
The last time I shared on the Parable of the Lost Sheep and I shared about the importance of us going after the Lost Sheep or reaching out to them as a Christians because Sheep can sometimes stray.
Now 1 reason that can hinder us from going after a stray sheep is when we have been hurt by them.
People have a tendecy to hurt us at times and we can struggle to forgive them for what they have done.
And it is this subject I want to speak to us about today
How many of us have been hurt by the actions and words of other people?
How many of us have hurt other people by our actions and our words?
I am sure that every single one of us have experienced both scenarios.
we have hurt people and we have been hurt by other people.
Greg Laurie Sermon Archive Handling Conflicts
Handling conflicts. It’s a part of all of our lives. We all disagree with different people. Or someone wrongs us. Or we see someone do something that we know will hurt them spiritually. What are we to do under such circumstances? Certainly the devil can have his hey day in such situations. Dividing us. Turning us against each other. Having us slander one another. Backbite one another.
And we must be very careful. Because it seems like we are living in a time where people have a tabloid mentality
When people hurt us it can be very hard to forgive them depending on what it is they would have done to us.
Sherwyn and his ex
Some people have been hurt by the church and they give up on church
Before I go further I want to say one thing
Isn’t it strange how many Church will give up on going to all churches because of some bad experience they had
They won’t apply that same thing to any other area of their life but they will apply it to the church
If they had a bad experience in their job - they dont give up on working altogther
If they had a bad experience with a bf cheating on them - they might quarrel and get on and say all men are dogs
but next 6 months they pick up another one -
Only when it comes to church - people quick to quit going to any church because of some hurt……
That should not be the case……
For some others it can be a family disspute over land which is common nowadays
A lot of people have been betrayed by their coworkers and they hurt
My story about me and Aneil
Alexander and Ian Alleyne make back up
Some of you are listening to me right now and you are picturing someone in your mind and just thinking about them raising your blood pressrue
Because of what they woukd have said or done to you
Today God wants you to know that if you have been forgiven much you should forgive much
“A LADY was walking her dog, and the dog was trying to get away from the leash. But every time the dog pulled away, the lady would yank it, pulling the dog back, and the animal couldn’t get free. The leash held it hostage, kept it bound, and unable to break away. He couldn’t break the chain.
Many of us today find ourselves held hostage by a leash. The links on the chain are many. There is the link of anger, the link of bitterness, the link of resentment, and the link of revenge. But no matter how many links are in the chain, they all boil down to one thing, unforgiveness.”
2 traits of Christians are givers and forgivers
We should be quick to love and quick to forgive
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive Introduction
Dwight L. Moody said there’s one sin, one failure, that’s doing more to hold back the power of God in revival in the lives and hearts of Christians more than any other sin. Do you know what he said it was? He said it was the sin of an unforgiving spirit.
Today I want to continue where I left off from the Parable of the Lost Sheep - because right after Jesus spoke that Parable - he shared another with his Disciples
Today we want to look at the parable of the Unforigving Debtor
This Parable is only found in the Book of Matthew
I believe that this is one of the simplest and most effective Parables in the Bible
Scripture
Scripture
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Background
Background
Let me give you a little Background into this verse before we get into the explanation
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive Introduction
That’s what the Lord said. Let me give you the background for what he has said. The Lord Jesus was talking, in Matthew chapter 18, about a brother in the church who sins. And then he said, if we have a brother who’s sinned, we should go to that brother to gain that brother (Matthew 18:15). In verse 15 of this chapter, he told us to obviously seek out that brother and forgive him
Now Peter was probably ponderin that which Jesus had said so he asked the Million Dollar Question thall of us are probably asking as well
That is how much times I neeed to keep forgiving a person for what they have done to me and what they are doing to me
Peter had probably known people who would have hurt or disappointed him in some way and the thing is - they continue to do the same thing over and over
How much times possibly do I need to keep forgiving that person
How many of you have people in your life or know of people who keep doing the same thing over and over
You have tried to forgive them
You have tried to let it slide but the thing is - they keep doing the same chupidness over and over and it frusttrates you
That is probably the type of Person Peter is thinking about
It could be like a boyfriend who cheating on you and you decide to forgive him but then he goes back to doing the same thing a few weeks after
Or a brother who spewing negative things about you - you talk to them - you forgive them but they continue to do it
Peter was probably thinking maybe there has to be a limit to how much times we should forgive someone
So he ask Jesus how much times ?
Should it be 2 times, 3 times , 7 times?
Jesus says 70 x 7 times we ought to forgive them
Now to all the Mathematicians in the room who thinking 70 x 7 is 490 times
Think again
Jesus did not mean that you keep score everytime someone did you wrong and make a log and track it and wait till they do it 490 times and then you write them off
No he meant that you need to keep on forgiving them
As often as they have wronged you, you have to forgive them
if you have been forgiven much you should forgive much
Forgiveness is not maths. It;s a mtter of the heart and not the head.
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive Introduction
When God forgives us, He always forgives us the first time, because all of those other sins are buried in the grave of his forgetfulness. And so you don’t keep records. You just simply forgive as many times as forgiveness is needed.
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive C. Forgive Finally
I heard of a businessman who liked to keep records in his office. He kept records of almost everything, especially his correspondence. His files were bulging. His secretary said, “Look, we’ve got to clean these files. How about letting me go through the files and pull out this stuff and put it in the shredder?” Reluctantly, he said, “Okay, okay, you can do it. But before you do that, make a copy of everything.”
Now let’s go through this Parable line by line and see some truths that we can draw out of this text
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.
So this King we read was owed 10,000 talents. Now I know you have no idea what is a talent but lets just say in Bible terms that 10,000 talents is like the Toal amount of Taxes for the entire country fir the year.
Someone like Imbert will real love that amount
In today’s standards none of us in church today could pay that kind of money unless they are the King himself.
Now thinking abiut this - I had no idea what this man could have done to be owing the King so much of money
Lets just say millions of dollars this man owing me - he had to be a good scamp to be owing so much of money
Now I don’t know about you but I hate when you loan someone money and they refuse to pay you back the money they borrowed from you
Me and Black Andy
So this man is brought before the King but what does the King do.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
The man realised he didnt have the money so the King say man let me sell you, sell your wife and sell your kids so I could get back the money
Now imagine if it was me who had owed the king - well me aint have no wife and kids so is only I getting sell and I doh feel I go get enough money to pay back that king nah
before we go furher - let us pause for a cause
notice this
this man owed money - but his wife and his kids were affected and were being asked to pay the price
I believe there is an important principle here
Dont feel that you could play the fool with your life and get into a set of folly and it only going to affect your life alone
No, it could affect, your kids - the people around you
We see it happening in trinidad today
Plenty innocent people getting gun today because they mammy or they daddy or their sibling involed in the wrong things with the wrong people
When gunmen come to kill - is shoot first - talk after
Be careful how you live your life - because your own family and friends will be affected
Notice in verse 26 what happens
the servant had to humble himself and beg for the King to forgive him and he will pay up
Important principle there is - when you know you in the wrong - humble yourself
dont play wrong and strong like other people
Humble yourself and your punishment might be smaller than it ought to be
The servant begged for forgiveness and we see in verse 27
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
The King who he owed all these talents to cancelled the debt and forgave him
Now we see that the servant get away
now dont feel that you could owe a man a million dollars or a king that kinda money and you going to get away like this servant….
these days men killing you for a $5
The reason why this man got away is because of who this King represents - we will get to that in a little while
Remember as I said - he who has been forgiven much should forgive much
now did the servant do that?
The story continues
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
so we see here that this man who was forgiven much refuses to forgive a little
He seizes this man who just owes him like a few hundred dollars and sends him to prison even though the man begged him for forgiveness
Now before you go pointing fingers at this servant and say he is so ungrateful - some of us sitting right here can be guilty of this very same thing
We could receive mercy and grace but others but we refuse to give mercy and grace to others
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
So we see here that this wicked servant was reported to the master who got angry with him for what he did and sent him to prison to pay off his debt
The guy was sent to prison and let me tell you something today
If we are harboring unforgiveness in our hearts today - we are sending our ownselves to Prison
We are living in Prison - we are in jail and we do not know it
I heard it said that unforgivness is like drinking poison but expecting the other person to die - really and truly it is us who dying
It is us who are in jail and we need to break out of this prison because the person it is affecting most is not the other party - the person is you
Some of you - still thinking about what that person did you and what that ex husband or ex wife or ex girl do to you
I know they treated you badly but hear is the thing
You not sleeping at night - you cant sleep cause you just holding on to these grudges but guess what
The other party - they aint bizness - they sleeping and dribbling whole night
The person who is most affected is you and you alone
You are in your own prison
The more you hold on to this grudge - the more you create your own prison
my story of anger and cant sleep
I pray that if you are hear today in this prison that God will set you free from this prison
I pray that God will give you the strength to forigve who needs to be forgiven in your life.
2 major truths we see in this Parable
We have been forgiven much
We have been forgiven much
The King depicts God and all of us here have been forgiven my God more than 70 x 7 times
We need to thank God that he is a forgiving God
Every day we do wrong , eveery day we sin against him and yet he is quick to forgive us
No matter how big of a sin we may have done - He is quick to forgive us
We need to never forget that we owed God a huge debt that none of us here could have paid
The truth is everything we have came from God
The earth that we walk on the air that we breathe belongs to him
We owe God a lot
We are bankrupt before God because of our sins
How you going to pay back God for your sins ?
You going and do good works.
You going and give out Samaritan Purse boxes to the Kids who are needy and think that will pay back the debt you owe him
The truh is we are just like the servant in this parable
We have a debt we cannot pay back
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
You cant pay back God the debt you owe him
Let me tell you something there is no such thing as free forgviness there is a cost attached to it
It cost God his son Jesus Christ - God absorbed the debt that we owed him
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive I. We Have Been Forgiven
God does not overlook your sin. God has paid for your sin. And therefore He forgives. I owed a debt I could not pay, and therefore Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay, and therefore Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. With the silver of His tears and the gold of his blood He purchased my redemption.
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive I. We Have Been Forgiven
When you forgive a person, whatever that person did, you absorb the cost into yourself. On the cross, Jesus was paying the debt that I owed, that you owed
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Roger asking me about forgiveness
Today I want to remind us that we have been forgiven much
We are to Forgive Much
We are to Forgive Much
When we know we have been forgiven much - then it is our duty to forgive much
We have to learn to forigve others
As Christian people love and forgivenss goes hand in hand
We can’t say we love people but we refuse to forgive them
God forigves you and he exoects you to forigve other people
In the Lord’s prayer he says forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us
or the King James version forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
We need to forgive much
As Elsa said in the movie Frozen
LET IT GO LET IT GO
We need to let go all these grudges and learn to forigve
When it comes to forgiving much there is the Grace Factor and the Guilt Factor
GRACE FACTOR
says Freely as ye have received, freely give
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
We need to extend Grace to people as we have received Grace
Dharius aunt got murdered by her husband
His dad started to study the scripture like never before
A few weeks after he got a phone call from the killer in a correctional facility
His dad extended grace over the phone
Bible made him more than smart - it made him strong
THE GRIEF FACTOR
Imagine the grief this man had when he was thrown in Prison for not forgivng his servant the debt
As I said we create our own prison and grief when we refuse to forgive. It grives us more than it grieves the other party
We are in our own prison
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive C. The Grief Factor
You are making a prison house of bitterness and out of bondage. You have become a slave, imprisoned and captured
The Bible says that not only was this man thrown into prison but it says he was tormented as well
Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive C. The Grief Factor
How many people are tormented with high blood pressure, memory, and emotional problems? How many are tormented because they cannot forgive and forget and release, and are back in debt
We need to remember that if we have been forgiven much we should forgive much
Because at the end of the day - it is us who is being affected the most
Conclusion
Conclusion
As I look to wrapup my message
I want to ask you who do you need to firgive today?
For some of you it could be a family member, a cowoker, a friend, a brother in the Church
Who is it ?
Who is occupying rent in your mind and they not paying the rent.
Is time to kick them out and get back your peace, get back your sanity
5 closing thoughts about forgivenss
Forgiveness is nt minimizing the wrong they did to you
Forgivenss is not waiting for an apology - Jesus dudbt wait for apologies before forgivng the pharisees on the cross
Forgivenss is not reconciliation - while it can lead to reconciliation - you can forgive them but I am not saying you need to go back with that husband who is beating you, orthat person who out to destroy you
Forgiveness is not an option but it is a command
Forgivenss does not change the past but it will enlarge your future
You can have a better and brigther future if you learn to forigve
Diandra story from client
Ask God to help you
Check Diandra if you need further counsel
Remember if you have been forgive much you need to forgive much
