Fireproof 5 - Forgiveness 11-2-08

“Forgiveness Has Its Benefits”

Fireproof Sermon 5 – Matthew 18:21-35

Sunday, November 2, 2008 – AM Service – FBC Winona

A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She said, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?” . . . . There was a short pause, and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up … “Sin”, he said.

Matthew 18:21-35

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus 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. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since 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"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The 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 denarii. 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 you back.' 30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed 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. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned 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 from your heart."

Forgiveness is . . .

·         The act of excusing or pardoning others in spite of their slights, shortcomings and errors

·         V21 – Why 7 times? Customary that 3 times, possibly 4 – this was twice as much

·         God forgave Israel’s enemies 3 times

·         Peter was counting but love “keeps no record of wrongs” (I Corinthians 13:5)

·         Seventy times seven refers back to the story of Lamech taking revenge in Genesis 4

·         God intended this forgiveness to be unlimited – if no accounting – can’t get to 3 or 4

The king’s servant

·         All of the king’s servants are brought in with the idea of collecting debts

·         This servant’s debt (10k talents) was so big he could never ever repay it all (10 mil)

·         King ordered his wife, children, and possessions be sold to repay the debt

·         Servant bowed down and begged for mercy – asked for more time

·         Instead of being granted mercy, was granted grace – debt was considered paid in full

The servant turned ungrateful

·         Saw one of his own servants-owed him a much smaller amount-demanded it (100 days)

·         When he received the same request he had asked of the king – turned nasty

·         Had the man thrown in prison until he could repay the debt

·         Since his debt was forgiven, would the first servant really use that for debt repayment?

·         The other servants reported this – the man was brought to king – sent to prison for torture

One of the hardest situations we find ourselves in is when we’ve been hurt

·         Relationship gone sour, trust broken, hurtful words or actions, we’ve been passed over, someone has been taken from us through tragedy or death

·         We often want to hold on to those hurts - those feelings

·         Keeps us from moving forward – puts our live to a certain degree in a holding pattern

Benefits of extending forgiveness

Leads us to a forgiven state

·         Mark 11:25-26, "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

·         Before we go to the Father – if we have ill feelings toward someone, we must let go

·         Sin deserves divine punishment because it is a violation of God’s holy character

Restores Christian fellowship

·         2 Corinthians 2:10, “10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake,

·         We cannot experience the full benefit of the Christian life with unforgiveness

Spiritual Cleansing

·         James 5:15, “15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”

·         If we want to be spiritually free, clean and healthy, we need to look toward forgiveness

2 things we need to understand

1)      The king in the story represents our heavenly Father

·         One of His roles is as righteous judge – authority to grant mercy/grace or punish

·         He has set the standard for behavior and He is bound to keep it

·         We must handle relationships His way or suffer the consequences

2)      The first servant received more than what he asked for

·         He asked for mercy – more time, but received grace

·         Because he received grace, forgiveness – he was expected to extend that as well

·         Grace did not exempt him from consequences of failure later

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us and educator

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.