Mercy and Forgiveness.
Miracle of mercy. • Sermon • Submitted
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After listening to Jesus’ teaching regarding confronting a sinner, Peter asked the Lord a question that, at some moment, has also come to our mind: How many times should I forgive my brother/sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” “Three strikes and the player was out” was the custom of that time; Peter looks benevolent!
Jesus responded with short answer: “seventy times seven”, whatever that means (490 times or an infinite times); and with a parable about mercy.
Read Mat 18:21-35
In this parable, the king may represent God, the owner of everything, and the two slaves represent two men who needed forgiveness of a debt; one with an extremely high debt (150,000 years of labor), and the other one with a very little debt (100 days of work).
By His mercy, God forgives us.
By His mercy, God forgives us.
The king was not obligated to forgive him. God is not obligated to forgive anyone! Erroneously, many believe that they deserve God’s forgiveness: “God has to forgive me!”. No! He does not have to!
If He forgives us is because He is merciful!
Let’s remember the definition of mercy:
“Mercy is undeserved forgiveness and unearned kindness.”
The servant begged the king “have patience with me and I will repay everything.” (26)
The lord forgave him for only one reason: “he felt compassion (mercy)” for the debtor and “release him and forgave him the debt.” (27)
You and I were also represented by this slave: we had a great debt with God, but He sent Jesus to pay our debt with His blood at the cross.
That is the essence of the gospel: He paid my debt! That is the best news I could ever received. I am free!
Do you know what the problem is? You get so used to it that you do not enjoy His forgiveness as when you received it. It is no longer a big deal!
Here are four things you need to understand and remember about God’s forgiveness
God wants to forgive us.
God wants to forgive us.
As I said before, the king did not have to forgive the slave, but he wanted to forgive him.
God is always willing to forgive, not seven times nor seventy times seven. Despite our failures, He is forgiving, He abounds in love and mercy:
“They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them.
17
He wants to give us His love, mercy and forgiveness. The thing is that He cannot force us to accept it or to remember it. The question is, Do you want to be forgiven? The slave begged for it!
His forgiveness is gratis.
His forgiveness is gratis.
If you noticed on vers. 27, the king did not put any conditions on his forgiveness. He simply forgave him!
Because mercy cannot be earned, forgiveness cannot be earned either. No matter what you do, you cannot pay for it, you cannot earn it, or deserve it.
Like salvation, forgiveness is free to you, but someone paid for it, Jesus died at the cross, paying the price of our sins.
Many do not receive it because they do not believe that could be true. “How is that possible?”, they ask. Jesus made it possible!
The Scripture says,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
23-24
His forgiveness is immediate.
His forgiveness is immediate.
God forgives us immediately.
God forgives us immediately.
God forgives us immediately.
The king did not say, “I want to observe your behavior for a week, month, and then I will decide if I will forgive you.”
The slave was forgiven in the very same moment he begged!
God does not retain His forgiveness on anyone who ask for it. He forgives right away.
Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
Isa 55:7
If God has forgiven you, Why do feel guilty then? Because we an enemy who is known as the accuser of the brethren. He tries to make you believe that God has not forgiven you. You chose to believe the enemy rather than God. If God says, “your sins are forgiven” as he told many in the gospels, they are forgiven.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Num 23
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and
God forgives us completely.
God forgives us completely.
Christ died to forgive all our sins, not only some. No matter how repulsive our sin were or are, He forgives them all.
The Bible is very clear on that:
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Col 2:13-14
The last word of Jesus before dying was “tetelestai”, a commercial term that means “paid in full”. Zero balance!
Unless we understand this truth, we will continue as victims of the devils accusations.
How about the unforgivable sin, the blasphemy against the Spirit? If we understand as the willingly rejection of the call of the Spirit to come to Christ or to receive His forgiveness, believers cannot commit that sin.
His mercy requires us to forgive others.
His mercy requires us to forgive others.
The second part of the parable teaches us that, if we have received mercy and forgiveness, we should give it to others.
When the forgiven man went out, he found a man who owed him very little: equivalent to 3.5 months of work (100 denarii). What is that in comparison to what he was forgiven? NOTHING!
The king expected him to show the other slave the same mercy he had received.
Often, we have wrong ideas about forgiving others:
“You must forgive only if the person ask forgiveness”
“You have not forgiven if you have not forgotten.”
“Forgiving means you have to trust the offender again.”
Forgiving is unconditional.
Forgiving is unconditional.
If God does not condition His forgiveness, who are we to offer conditional forgiveness?
“Well, they have to show repentance.” To you or to God?
Forgiveness does not depend on what the offender say or do. It depends on what God commands us to do:
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Eph 4:32
What if you do not feel like forgiving? Feeling is an emotion, but are guided by the Spirit, not by the heart.
Forgiving is an act of the will! Will I obey God’s command or not?
Illust. Corrie ten Boon
Forgiving does not mean forgetting.
Forgiving does not mean forgetting.
“To forgive is to forget!” Have you heard it, have you said it?
It is one of the most mistaken ideas about forgiveness. It may sound good, but it is not from the Bible.
There is people whose offenses have left you with a mark for life. Even if you forgive them, you will not forget them or what they did to you.....
There was a man who caused great pain to Paul. Paul forgave him, but did not forget it. His name was Alexander. This is what Paul said to Timothy:
Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.
2 Tim 4:14-15
Illust. Phrase at Yad Vashem, the Museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem: “Never again!” They will never forget what was done to them!
Forgiving does no mean trusting again.
Forgiving does no mean trusting again.
“Timothy, be careful with that man. He’s not worthy of trust.”
It is not that Paul was seeking vengeance, but when someone breaks the trust you have placed on him, it will be very difficult to recover it.
Trust is like a glass cup: If you break it, even if you repair it, it will never be the same!
It is possible to recover the trust, but it will take a long time and true repentance that is shown in deeds.
Many have caused me harm in different ways. I have forgiven them, I treat them well, but do not expect me to trust them like before.
Forgiving leaves things in God’s hands.
Forgiving leaves things in God’s hands.
“The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.”
“Do not take the law into your hands” is a common saying. Where is that coming from? From the Bible:
-20
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
That’s what Jesus did with Peter! He fed him!
When you take vengeance, you put yourself at the level of the offender.
God shows us a higher road:
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:17
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
rom 12:21
Conclusion: Let me finish with another passage:
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
12
“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.