Teachings of Jesus: The Freedom of Forgiveness
Walking the Life of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 11 viewsThis is a sixteen week study through the life of Jesus, (Jesus on the scene, the miracles of Jesus, The parables of Jesus, and the victorious Jesus.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Welcome | Greeting | Turn to Matthew 18:21-35 |
In some parts of the world, hunters catch monkeys using a simple trap: they place a piece of fruit inside a jar with an opening just big enough for the monkey's hand to fit in. When the monkey grabs the fruit, its clenched fist is too large to pull out. The monkey refuses to let go and ends up trapped.
I want to talk to you about the freedom of forgiveness, this morning.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Explanation of the Text
Explanation of the Text
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
The master began to settle the accounts with everyone who owed him a debt. It was not limited in scope but all encompassing.
The servant at hand is one who owed a significant debt. It was so significant that it would have been overwhelming to the people.
A talent was the highest known denomination of currency in the Ancient Roman Empire and Ten Thousand was the highest number for which the Greek language and a particular word.
A single talent was what a laborer would hope to make in half a lifetime. While there is a debate over the exact amount the general concensus is that it would be about 6000 denarii worth of money. Keep in mined a single denarii was a days wage. So this would be about 19 years worth of labor for a single talent. Yet, for this debtor, his debt is not one talent. It is 10,000 talents!
In other words, he has about 190,000 years worth of a common wage to repay. We are talking about an impossible debt to pay back! It is safe for us then to say it would be like one of us owing a zillion dollars worth of income to a single person.
25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
As a result of the debtor being unable to pay back the amount owed, the master declares that he and his family be sold so that he could recoup some of the debt.
With the kind of sum the man owed, even the sale of the man, wife, and children would not cover the great debt.
In the ancient culture, it was customary that if a person could not pay their debts then they could be sold as a way to recoup the money lost; his family was included in this as well.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
The debtor at the news of the judgement against him pleads with God to have mercy and to forgive him of the debt he owes.
His plea is two part, have patience, and if the master is patient he will repay everything.
Honestly, the man in the story is desperate. The sum he owes could never be paid back. No matter what he did, so he is pleading and attempting to delay the judgement.
27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
The master responds with grace and kindness. Instead of throwing the man into slavery he does the unthinkable, he releases the man and forgives him of the debt entirely.
The man is free! No longer bound to the enormous debt that was upon him and he is able to live life without the debt hanging over him.
We all have a great debt we owe God. Our debt is rebellion against him. When we lie, cheat, steal, lust, gossip, cut people down, harbor bitterness towards other people. We sin against God and we have a debt we could never pay back. Yet,
1. In Jesus, we can be forgiven and free from sin.
1. In Jesus, we can be forgiven and free from sin.
We are this debtor. And the master is the Lord. God through his love and mercy has given us hope through Jesus.
No matter how much we try to pay off our debt with being good.
Going to church.
Helping the poor
Taking care of widows.
Not swearing
not lying
not lusting after another person
not talking bad about people
It will never be enough to pay off our debt of sin.
But Pastor Ben, what if I haven’t really sinned? What if I only have small sins like the occasional lie, maybe I’ve said a dirty word a couple of times, or when I was a kid I disobeyed my parents a few times but overall I am a good person!
Scripture is clear, that even one sin makes us guilty of the whole law.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Also, Romans tells us that no matter how much good we think we do, there is no one good.
10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Yet, even though there is no hope of repaying our debt. Jesus paid our debt so that we can experience freedom and forgiveness through him!
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
And then in John 8:32
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Then in Ephesians 1:7 we see that we have forgiveness in Jesus,
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
There is only one person that could forgive the debt of the man in the parable, the king. There is only one who can forgive our debt of sin, it is Jesus!
How then are we saved?
We must believe and confess Jesus as Lord and savior. He must reign as Lord of our lives. The debtor, pleaded for patience. We plead for forgiveness and ask Jesus to save us and purify us. He is faithful to forgive us!
Don’t miss the beauty of our forgiveness in Jesus, just like the debtor, we don’t deserve forgiveness. It is a freely given gift of love and mercy that we have received from Jesus because of his love for us. So that means when we plead for God’s mercy and forgiveness and he is faithful to forgive us. It is not because of who we are or anything we have done, it is loving act towards us and his overwhelming grace and mercy washing over us.
Praise God for his mercy and forgiveness!
We get to experience it each and everyday when we are children of God.
Transition: Yet, Jesus does not end the parable in verse 27. Remember this is a response to Peter’s question about forgiveness and how many times he should forgive someone. Let’s look at the second part of the parable.
Explanation of part two:
Explanation of part two:
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
At first glance, I think most of us would say this guy is crazy.
He was forgiven essentially of 6000 denarii, and here after being forgiven of such a great debt is now choking a man who owed him 100 denarii.
A man who was on the verge of total ruin, forgiven and freed is now attacking and harming someone who owed him money.
It just seems so backwards. He was forgiven a debt that couldn’t ever be paid back. Yet, he is choking a man over a debt that could be paid back in time.
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
Here is the shocking reality, the servant does the exact same thing. He pleads for patience and he will repay the debt to the man who has been forgiven a debt that could not be paid back.
You’d think that his response would be gracious and kind. You could see him saying something like, brother, I’m sorry I was so angry, you just reminded me of my own debt I’ve been forgiven up. Of course, stand up and consider it paid in full.
But no.
30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
The former great debtor shows the servant no mercy, grace, or forgiveness. Instead, he throws the man in jail. Talk about a stark contrast to the mercy and forgiveness he experienced!
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
Here is the reality, the man did this in front of other people and those servants when they saw it were greatly concerned.
Think about it: they just watched their fellow servant being physically attacked and jailed for a debt. Who was to stop him from coming after one of them if they owed him money? Also, if they knew of the grace he had experienced, which is likely the case, and they know that he was forgiven of a great deal then how in the world does he think he can behave in such a way?
So they do what is only natural, they go to their master and tell him what had happened.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
The master tells the servant that his debt was forgiven out of mercy because of his pleading. Yet, he is wicked, “because he did not forgive the other servant of a smaller debt.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
He points out how the servant experienced mercy and so he should have shown mercy on the other servant.
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
As a result of the lack of forgiveness in the heart of the debtor, who had been forgiven of his great debt, his debt is returned upon him and he is thrown into jail until he could pay off his debt.
We need to note the word jailers, it actually means torturers. Which means that this unforgiving servant, is cast into torment for his unbelief.
Don’t forget that this man could not ever work off his debt. It was too great a sum.
In other words this servant who was not willing to forgive the debt of someone else proved he was disqualified from the forgiveness of the master.
Then Jesus concludes the parable with a statement about the Father,
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Don’t miss this, Jesus tells Peter that whoever does not forgive others from the bottom of their heart will not enter the kingdom of heaven! They will be lost!
When we experience forgiveness from God, we cannot help but to forgive others. Or in other words,
2. Through Jesus, we can freely forgive others.
2. Through Jesus, we can freely forgive others.
There is an expectation for us as believers to be quick to forgive and show mercy towards other people. We should not hold bitterness or contempt towards them. Instead, we are to forgive and love them. Now, let me be clear here. When people sin against others, there are real consequences for those actions but it does not mean that we do not forgive them.
For example, a pastoral staff member who has an affair is disqualified from serving in that position.
A CEO who embezzles money, has to be fired, fined, and jailed.
Someone who is a victim of abuse, should not, I repeat should not subject themselves to the abuse from their abuser.
They can forgive their offender without subjecting themselves to the continued abuse.
As believers, we are expected to forgive others regardless of the sin against us because we have been forgiven a far greater debt.
You might be thinking, I never killed or abused anyone, you would be correct in that statement. You might not ever done either of those external actions but your hatred, contempt, gossip, lust, make you guilty of murder, slander, and adultery.
When you spew hatred towards another person you are murdering them with your thoughts and words.
When we harbor bitterness towards those that have hurt us, we are not walking with God in his forgiveness.
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Through Jesus we are saved, and it is through Jesus that we are able to show mercy towards others.
There was a man who was hiking through the mountains carrying a heavy backpack. As he climbed higher, he grew weary, but every time he stopped to rest, he would pick up a new rock and put it in his pack. Eventually, he collapsed under the weight.
A fellow hiker came along and asked, “Why are you carrying so many rocks?”
The man replied, “Each one represents a grudge I have against someone who hurt me. I refuse to let them go.”
The fellow hiker shook his head and said, “But don’t you see? They aren’t weighing them down—they’re only hurting you.”
Our inability to forgive others only hurts us, it hurts are ability to experience the freedom we have in Jesus, it hurts our relationships, and burdens us needlessly. We need to be a people who quickly forgive others regardless of hurt.
Closing
Closing
We have seen today that we are able to be forgiven of a debt we could never payback, and because we have received that level of forgiveness, we can forgive others no matter the sin.
Have you experienced saving faith in Jesus, have you been forgiven?
Are you forgiven others?
