The Forgiven, Forgiving Follower of Christ

REVIEW

Started with - Beatitudes, characteristics of Kingdom-dwellers

Parables - describing the Kingdom; Jesus does this by describing the qualities (characteristics) of those who are part of the Kingdom

Poor in spirit, Mourn, Gentle, Hunger and thirst for rightousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, insulted for Christ...

GENERALITIES - Jesus finds specifics to match up

Soils - how we receive the Word (mourn, hunger and thirst for righteousness?)

Wheat/tares - (pure in heart, poor in spirit, dependent on God, trusting)

Lost sheep, coin, son - (hunger and thirst, mourn, repentance takes meekness, poor in spirit recognition)

NOW - We see “merciful” on display, parable of the unforgiving servant - Kingdom Dweller context

Matthew 6:14 NASB95

“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

OVERALL POINTS

We are forgiven, so we forgive

When we are unforgiving, we risk not being forgiven (daily, not about salvation)

Lord’s Prayer - a TEMPLATE for prayer life - we ask to be forgiven, daily, and then it is assumed that we will be forgivING

This parable: understand what it means to be forgiven, and then go do it

Pay it forward? Coffee at Wawa

Forgiveness on display?

No way to cross a divide (sin illustration)

The Story

(follows the reconciliation/restoration aspect of - rehearse the point of this passage)

Peter asks a question about forgiveness, and Jesus answers with a parable

KING - servants (not necessarily poor slaves, but various levels of people in servitude, paid positions)

10,000 TALENTS

Talent = 70-80 pounds, largest unit of currency

10,000 - largest number in the Greek

Therefore: largest possible conception of $$, largest possible debt, inconceivable amount

Davids’s crown () contained a talent of gold

Solomon’s tribute income was 666 talents of gold/year

David left Solomon 100,000 talents of gold and 1M talents of silver

100 Denarius - 100 days’ wages

5 talents would be considered multi-millionaire

Key Aspects of Forgiveness

1) Forgiven a debt we cannot pay

Paid in full

not layaway, not credit to be repaid, PAID IN FULL

Separation from God - impossible to restore

It took God’s work to make the impossible possible

No work on our part will do, simply accepting His forgiveness

Forgiveness offered to all

2) Repentance - true repentance

(rehearse prodigal son and rejoicing over a sinner repenting)

We repent, God forgives

People repent, we forgive

We repent, God forgives

Not necessarily personal restoration, not always wise or safe ( is about restoring a sinner to fellowship to worship)

Need to understand what it means to forgive

Regarding reconciliation with God, God says “their sin I will remember no more (, )

Hebrews 8:12 NASB95

“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”

Romans 8:1 NASB95

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

REMEMBER NO MORE = will not recall to mind

NOT - “forget”

Positional - reminds that our sin, regarding reconciliation with God, is no longer held against us - forever

Judged based on our Christian life, yes, so sin is still a problem

But the point to this parable is that when we understand what we have been forgiven, we as Christians can’t help but be forgiving

UNDERSTAND, or try to GRASP ETERNITY

Forgiven, FOREVER!

True forgiveness, then, follows true repentance

3) The Forgiven Forgive

We get offended, hurt, etc.

So we set the “price” for redemption rather high

We hold a grudge

We refuse to even offer forgiveness

BUT - the forgiven forgives

Compare what we’ve been forgiven, and then consider forgiving

(Go back to passage about expecting forgiveness)

Biblical Forgiveness (“Remembering no more...”)

Never again bring it up to the person

Never again bring it up to self

Never again bring it up to God

(Diff than forget, but we need to hold every thought captive)

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB95

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

APPLY THIS TO “REAL LIFE”

Sometimes we cannot restore, reconcile (unsafe or unwise)

Can still forgive, especially talking it over with the Lord

Take it to God, adopt a forgiving spirit

Don’t mow the weeds, pushing things down, pretending situations that never get dealt with will just go away - unhealthy

Truly forgiving someone is a supernatural, “God thing”

Our flesh says NO

The Spirit of God in us leads us to forgive, which makes no sense outside of Biblical truth

Mankind sees a meek and humble spirit as “weak”

PETER opens with a question: 7 times

He feels good about his “completeness”

Jesus says 70 x 7 = 490? NO!

Jesus says your forgiveness is complete

ABSURDLY COMPLETE!

Just like salvation

ABSURDLY COMPLETE!

ASIDE

Teach kids, it’s OK to be Biblical

“I’m sorry” - please don’t say “It’s OK”

Say “I forgive you.” The more kids hear Bible truth, the more they will grow to love God

And don’t let them make excuses

Adults are really good at excuses

GOD SAID: “I forgive you!”

He does not say “It’s OK, don’t worry about it.”

HARD QUESTIONS:

Who do you need to forgive?

What areas of repentance and forgiveness do you need to deal with, and stop pushing aside?

Can you forgive, or be forgiven, without the words being said, “I forgive you”

e.g. Jesus died for all, but He did not say that all are forgiven - needs to be accepted. Then, when you DO accept it, He says, YOU ARE FORGIVEN! No doubt.

PUT THE TEXT TO WORK

If you dwell in the Kingdom, live like you do

Be forgiven

Be forgiving

Show yourself to be a follower of Christ - not just a good person!