Untitled Sermon

Exegetical Idea: God expects those who have been forgiven by Him to extend forgiveness to others, or face judgment/consequences.

Homiletical Idea: Citizens of grace forgive like their King.

Purpose: To compel listeners to recognize the depth of God’s mercy toward them and to respond by genuinely forgiving others.

What did YOU do wrong? What’d THEY do wrong? Have you ever uttered to yourself: “I might forgive, but I won’t forget?” Chances are, by now you have sinned against AND been sinned against. We live in a world full of relational wreckage…broken families, church division, estranaged friendships, abusive leaders, and many other forms of hurt and betrayal…

Often at the root of all this strife is one thing: unforgiveness. And the tragedy is that it creeps into our homes and hearts all the time. So, wanting to protect ourselves with boundaries and limits–we ask when is enough, enough??

And just like us, Peter approaches Jesus in this passage and asks, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” He’s not just asking a theoretical question though. Peter’s asking a profoundly personal one that we can all relate to. He had just discussed restoration with Jesus in the verses leading up to this passage. So Peter may sincerely want to forgive others but he’s limited in mercy. He probably wants to seek restoration for another brother or sister, while rationalizing his frustration at the same time.

But what Jesus says in response, and the parable He tells, pulls back the curtain on the Kingdom of heaven and reveals something that should shake us or at least humble us: forgiveness is not optional for the forgiven. The Lord points out that we ought to be much more focused on grace and mercy than we are on getting past the inconvenience and discomfort of relational discord.

And Jesus knows this kind of thing isn’t easy. He knows that forgiving the sin of someone else requires us to humbly choose love over wrath. But our Lord also knows that we’re set free by showing mercy to our offenders…

Adrian Rogers observed, “that the sin which is causing Christians more difficulty than any other is the sin of an unforgiving spirit.” So let’s agree that this is a substantial issue for us, that warrants prayerful consideration and possibly even some confession.

Let’s also agree on what we mean by “forgiveness.” See the Bible defines this term as extending underserved grace and mercy to the people who’ve wronged us, which includes absorbing the cost of their sin against us. Just as with us, God both extended and absorbed through the death of His Son.

And in today’s passage, nestled within the larger context of Kingdom values, is the parable of an Unforgiving Servant or as the NIV says the Unmerciful Servant. And I’ve divided the text up into four different “scenes” to get a closer look at the key takeaways from this segment of Matthew’s gospel...

So in our first scene, we see how the Lord responds to his disciple’s dilemma with a perfect parable about forgiveness…

Scene 1 - Mercy Misunderstood [18:21-22] read from Bible

Peter steps forward with a legitimate question that should still resonate with us today: "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Forgiving once is hard enough. Seven times? That feels a bit generous.

Peter may have thought he was being gracious with the number. See the rabbinic teaching in his day often taught forgiving up to just three times. So Peter doubles it, then adds one for good measure. But Jesus responds with a number that’s not really a number–”seventy-seven times" (or seventy times seven). Did the Lord mean 490 times? Maybe 77 times? Maybe that wasn’t the point??

The original phrase here can mean either 77 or 490, depending on the interpretation, but the number is deliberately symbolic. And, don’t miss how it points back to Genesis 4:24, where Lamech boasts that if Cain is avenged seven times, Lamech is avenged seventy-seven times.

But we must realize Jesus isn’t giving Peter a math equation to solve. He’s giving him (and us) a much-needed heart check. Forgiveness in the Kingdom isn’t about calculation. Mercy isn’t transactional, it’s transformational. And to quote Adrian Rogers again, who said, “Forget the arithmetic. This is a matter of the heart, not of the head.”

And I understand that some of us are carrying the pain of betrayal, repeated offenses, or wounds that seem like they just won't heal. I don’t want to minimize the suffering that many of us have experienced. But we have to be careful not to hear Jesus’ reply and wonder–is that even fair?? “Didn’t he know my dad was abusive? Doesn’t he realize my wife keeps watching pornography? Can He even see how my boyfriend repeatedly chooses addiction over me?”

Yes, Jesus knows. He sees. He hears. And Jesus relates to and walks through the pain with us. He is grieved by such things and is able to sympathize. But take heart…one day He will right every wrong and wipe every tear…

And we really need to consider–what’s our gauge of fairness when it comes to mercy? Are we seeing our own sin clearly when we calibrate our moral scale? Because If it doesn’t align with God’s, then we’re wrong…

Have you ever been in one of those family group chats? Maybe one difficult person keeps stirring up drama with passive-aggressive comments. You’ve addressed it. You’ve forgiven. You’ve let things go. Again and again. But it keeps happening…

Eventually, you find yourself hovering over the “Leave Conversation” button. You’re done. Seven times? You’ve passed that already.

That’s where Peter is standing at this point in our story. He’s not cold-hearted, he’s just tired. And maybe you are too. Because forgiving repeat offenders can feel like enabling, cosigning, or just plain weakness on our part.

But Jesus says, “You're counting. I’m calling.”

You’re counting offenses–how many times they hurt you. Jesus is calling you to reflect a mercy that doesn’t run on math. A mercy that rewrites the rules of human interaction. Not because “it’s fair,” but because that’s what citizens of the Kingdom do. We don’t leave the conversation. We keep showing up with grace. Not out of our own strength, but because we know what it’s like to be the difficult one in the group chat…and to still be loved.

And so when we want to keep counting, our Lord wants us to keep forgiving…

See Jesus deliberately doesn’t stop at a specific number. In order to help Peter and us see just how radical this call to forgiveness is, Jesus doesn’t respond with a long lecture either. He tells a story. And what a story it is…a parable meant to shock us awake to the outrageous mercy of our King!

So let’s drop into our next scene here, which I’ve entitled…

Scene 2 - Mercy Manifested [18:23-27] read from Bible

Right after responding with an incalculable number, Jesus reveals the entire context of His story–divine grace. By leading with “the kingdom of heaven,” the Lord alerts His hearers that He’s not merely talking economics or social justice here. He’s comparing a broken reality to the perfect reality of His Kingdom–a kingdom that functions on an entirely different operating system, if you will.

And we know that in our world, debts must be paid. That’s the economy of earth: actions have consequences, debts demand repayment, and justice keeps score. Mercy might stretch the terms, delay the interest, or reduce the payment, but it doesn’t erase the account.

But the kingdom of heaven is not like this world. The math doesn’t make sense. The books don’t balance. Grace breaks into the system like a supernatural glitch, disrupting our flawed expectations. Where we anticipate justice, God offers mercy. Where we deserve wrath, He generously gives forgiveness.

So let’s picture the situation: a king settling accounts. This wasn’t just a tax season review or a polite invoice delivered via email. It was an official royal audit–an evaluation of what was owed. And in walks a servant who owes ten thousand talents, which was not a casual debt. In first-century Judea, one talent equaled roughly twenty years' wages for a laborer. Ten thousand talents would take two hundred thousand years to repay, assuming no inflation.

This is an example of Jesus using hyperbole and He’s doing it intentionally. He’s not being careless with the numbers. He’s painting a picture so absurd, so extreme, that everyone in the audience would immediately recognize the point–this debt is impossible to pay. It’s symbolic of our spiritual debt before a holy God–our sin, accumulated over a lifetime, magnified against divine righteousness. See the original hearers of this tale knew immediately that this king represented God and that the accounting language meant divine judgment. There would have been no confusion as to what Jesus was getting at here. For us, however, it may require a little more imagination…

With that in mind, let’s envision this man standing before the king. Shoulders slumped. Panic in his eyes. His entire future dissolving before him. And the king’s verdict? Completely just and legal. And well within his rights. Sell the man, his wife, his children, everything, to recoup what you can. Obviously this is harsh but it’s not unjust. The servant had no means to repay.

Now, in desperation, the servant collapses to his knees and begs for mercy. “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” Which, of course, is absurd–he can’t cover this debt. But we do the same, don’t we? We often think, If I just try harder, clean up my act, be a better person…maybe I can make this right with God.

And then comes the twist. The king doesn’t give him more time. Instead he cancels the debt. He erases the books. No repayment plan. No contract renegotiation. Just mercy!

This isn’t simply a transactional moment, it’s a transformational one. And that phrase “out of pity” in verse 27 isn’t just sympathy. The Greek word points to a deep gut-level compassion, a fervent mercy that moves the heart of a person into action. This isn’t moralistic generosity. This is covenant love, the kind of mercy God has for sinners.

And this merciful king? He’s a mirror of our God. A holy, righteous King who looks on our spiritual bankruptcy and chooses to cancel our sin debt. Not by ignoring justice, but by satisfying it in the death of Jesus. The Cross is where the unpayable was paid in full. IT. IS. FINISHED.

You’d think someone forgiven such a debt would be the most merciful man on earth, right? That he’d skip down the palace steps–his heart bursting with joy, ready to extend forgiveness at every turn! This makes me think of the end of a Christmas Carol. When Scrooge has seen the error of his ways, after hanging out with those three ghosts. So he does a complete 180 and becomes the most joyful and generous person you’ve ever seen. I feel like that’s how this servant should react…

Now if our story ended right here, it would be one of the most beautiful pictures of grace in Scripture. But it’s not over yet. Because the forgiven servant walks out of the throne room and straight into one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in the New Testament.

So, w/ mercy fresh on his mind, how will this servant respond? Like our old buddy Ebinezer Scrooge??

Scene 3 - Mercy Withheld [18:28-30] read from Bible

Well in scene three, we find our narrative is barely out of the throne room and immediately we’re stunned. The forgiven servant, fresh from being released of a multi-billion dollar debt, goes out, finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii and violently demands payment.

Let’s put this in perspective…a hundred denarii was about three months' wages. It’s not nothing. It would definitely hurt to lose it. But compared to ten thousand talents? It’s microscopic!

And yet, what does this guy do? He seizes the other servant, choking him, and says, “Pay me what you owe.” The Greek verbs intensify the ugliness: he doesn’t ask. He assaults. He erupts w/ selfish, entitled rage. It’s shocking–especially because the aggressor is the same guy who was just forgiven.

Even more shocking is the irony–the fellow servant uses the same plea…“Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” It’s an echo of the first scene, almost word for word. The hearers would’ve caught this repetition immediately. But unlike the king, this man offers no grace. No compassion. No pause. He sends the man to prison until the debt is paid in full.

And when we read this, something stirs within us. Perhaps we’d articulate it as outrage. “How could he??” How can someone receive such mercy and then turn around and demand justice so harshly? But that’s the point here. Jesus is inviting us to feel this–because this is what it looks like when we withhold forgiveness from others while standing forgiven ourselves.

And let’s not rush past the implication here. When we hold onto bitterness, when we choke others with our unmet expectations, when we demand emotional repayment from those who’ve hurt us–we are this ruthless servant. We forget the Cross. We ignore the debt that was lifted from us. We act as if God’s grace and mercy was a small thing.

That’s why Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

Now, if I might say this gently…some of us have grown far too comfortable choking our fellow servants (myself included). Sometimes we hold onto grudges like treasured possessions. We rehearse offenses like scripts. We say, “You don’t know what they did to me.” And you’re right–it was real. It hurt. Maybe it still does. Jesus isn’t asking you to pretend it didn’t happen. He’s asking you to remember what He did for you and let that memory loosen your grip.

And honestly, it’s hard not to feel empathetic outrage at this point in the passage. But that’s exactly what Jesus intends. He wants the audience to feel the injustice, to recognize the hypocrisy, and to be disturbed by it. Jesus wants us to see how this correlates to our offenses before a holy God...

And, practically speaking, unforgiveness doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t protect you. There’s no upside here. It simply imprisons you. Some would say that withholding forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to suffer the harmful effects…

But remember–we’re not the only ones watching here. The parable isn’t over yet. The other servants saw all this too. So word reaches the king. And when the master returns, the story takes its final, sobering turn to scene four entitled…

Scene 4 - The King Returns, Justice Follows [18:31-35] read from Bible

Picking up in verse 31, we find that word gets back to the powerful king. So he calls the heartless servant back to his throne and delivers a devastating question: "Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" The mercy the servant refused to show earlier becomes the very thing that condemns him now...

But how would you have responded here? Some of us might say to the merciless servant: “You told on yourself” or “You played yourself.” By refusing to show mercy and being aggressively harsh with his fellow servant, this guy just ruins his new found freedom. He’s set free only to be thrown in jail and dealt with as the jailers see fit…

And don’t miss this–the Greek term for “jailers” can also be translated “torturers,” highlighting the torment of unforgiveness both internally (bitterness, spiritual hardness) and eternally (divine judgment). The jailers are symbolic too, representing the self-inflicted anguish we often suffer when we refuse to forgive others…

So then, Jesus brings it all home: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." And just like that, the parable pierces our souls. This isn’t just a moral lesson. It’s a matter of Kingdom ethics. We must love genuinely, like our Lord.

But mercy isn’t easy. Forgiving doesn’t come naturally. We don’t want to yield to these kinds of commands. But forgiveness is evidence that you belong to the merciful Master. So let Jesus do this through you, as you…

He will empower you if you humble yourself. We’re called to live this way, but God’s promise is that He’ll enable us to do so. He wants us to be ambassadors of the gospel, all for His glory…

So now, at this point in our story, we see the key truth: Citizens of grace forgive like their King! (repeat)

Hasheem Garret was a 15-year-old, living with his mother and hanging out on the streets of Brooklyn with a gang, when he was shot six times and was left paralyzed from the waist down.

For most of the next year he lay in a New York City hospital, fantasizing about revenge. He later wrote: “Revenge consumed me. All I could think about was, just wait, till I get better; just wait till I see this kid.”

But when he was lying on the sidewalk immediately after his shooting, he had instinctively called out to God for help, and, to his surprise, he had felt this strange tranquility. Now during his rehabilitation, a new thought struck him, namely, that if he took revenge on this kid, why should God not pay him back for all his sins? He concluded, “I shot a kid for no reason, except that a friend told me to do it, and I wanted to prove how tough I was. Six months later, I was shot by somebody because his friend told him to do it.”

That thought was electrifying … He could not feel superior to the perpetrator. He was no different really. They were both fellow sinners who deserved a punishment and needed forgiveness.

Hasheem said, “In the end I decided to forgive. I felt God had saved my life for a reason, and that I had better fulfill that purpose … And I knew I could never go back out there and harm someone. I was done with that mindset and the life that goes with it … I came to see that I had to let go and stop hating.”

Is there someone you haven’t forgiven? Someone whose offense feels too big? A name that still causes a knot in your stomach? I confess I’m convicted here–I know I literally feel my blood pressure spiking when I’ve been offended by certain people. Right? I struggle with putting conditions on my mercy. If I don’t like you, how can I love you??

But let’s look again at the King. And look again at our debt (sin). Then, by His humbling grace, pass on what we have received. This pays tribute to and models King Jesus.

Peter asked how far forgiveness should go. Jesus answered: as far as it takes to restore your brother or sister. Because God wants us to understand the redemptive ethos of Kingdom living. Jesus’ earthly ministry initiated the creation of a counter-cultural community. His people are marked by humility, holiness, reconciliation, and radical mercy. And so we, today, are called to carry this all forward in a world that is marred by brokenness and the residue of unforgiveness.

See forgiveness is the signature mark of the forgiven. And today’s parable brought us face-to-face with the implications. Each scene in our story showed us how forgiveness is not a feeling, but a choice. Not a suggestion, but a necessity. Not from our strength, but from His mercy.

And I find it interesting that, when most parables have only one point, this one has a few for us. We saw several key takeaways in our passage, each one in the context of mercy and grace (or a lack thereof). And each one points to the reality of the gospel. Jesus freely forgave us, at a great and immeasurable cost. In response to this, we ought to freely and genuinely forgive others. We ought to absorb the cost of their sin, as a demonstration of our faith.

And you don’t need to sugarcoat the truth. You don’t need to be perfect in how you go about this. You don’t need to ignore protective boundaries. You may not see reconciliation in every case either. But if you belong to the King, you must forgive. Forgiveness is not natural; it is supernatural. It is not easy, but it is essential.

As William Arthur Ward rightly observed, “We are most like animals when we kill. And we are most like men when we judge. But we are most like God when we forgive.”

And I need to add a couple of side notes here before we wrap up…

First, it’s important that we understand reconciliation is not always possible. Some who’ve sinned against us may not be repentant or amicable. But let’s not allow that to stop us from forgiving. The Apostle Paul told the believers in Rome, and therefore us, to live at peace if at all possible. So we can and should release offenders without reconciling–there’s a distinction.

Secondly, I want to address the idea of “self-forgiveness” as well. Sometimes, in a counseling or discipleship context, I hear people refer to the idea that they “just had to forgive themselves” for past sin they had committed. I honestly don’t see that concept supported anywhere in Scripture. What I do see is that there’s no condemnation for those of us in Christ. And the Bible also says that in Him, we have a new past…

And since we’re not God and He is–and He says we’re free, we need to accept our acceptance and appropriate His forgiveness over our lives! So yes, allow yourself grace when you’re hurting or healing, but remember–your freedom isn’t riding on you. Rest in the truth that you cannot do for yourself what Jesus has already done for you…

And make no mistake: when God says you're clean, you're clean. Rather than striving to release ourselves, we’re invited to rest in His release. And once we do that & truly grasp that we’re forgiven, only then can we freely extend that same forgiveness to others…

Now again, let me humbly ask…Who do you need to forgive? What grudge have you been nursing? Are you operating from pride or from humility? Will you seek vengeance or restoration?

Because you and I are invited to lay it all at the foot of the Cross. And remember, it was on that very Cross that our Lord forgave those who were taking His life. Don’t miss the incredible example He set for us in that horrific situation. You see, we’re free to tear up the IOUs. We can stop keeping score. We’re able to release the offensive. We can forgive others as we have been forgiven…

I love how John MarArthur puts it in his book: The Freedom & Power of Forgiveness. He says “Forgiveness unleashes joy. It brings peace. It washes the slate clean. It sets all the highest virtues of love in motion. In a sense, forgiveness is Christianity at its highest level.”

Remember friends, in God’s Kingdom, showing mercy through forgiveness isn’t optional–it’s really our way of life. It’s our relational expression of being set free by God’s mercy and grace. And when we grasp this amazing mercy and grace extended to us, we’re compelled to extend it to others…

You see, true citizens of grace forgive like their King!