Part 2: What The Bible Says About Unforgiveness
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The Bible gives great commands to us about forgiving and gives great contrasts between being forgiving and unforgiving.
As Christians we have a responsibility before God to be forgiving of others because God has forgiven us of all our sins against Him.
A little four year old boy was overheard praying before bedtime by his mother. The little boy concluded his prayer saying, “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”
Forgiveness from God is offered to everyone, but not received by everyone. As followers of Jesus Christ we are not to withhold forgiveness from those who have hurt us, mistreated us, or injured us, but rather, we are to offer forgiveness...
God indeed extends His forgiveness to lost sinners. He gave His only begotten Son for the world so that those who come to God through Jesus Christ will receive free and full pardon of their sins. But, God does not automatically forgive the world just because Jesus died on the cross for the world. Forgiveness is available to all, but only activated and appreciated by those who turn to God and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.
The point I’m getting at here is that God’s love is unlimited for everyone, and our’s ought to be also. But God’s forgiveness is only to those who repent. A lot of people go too far on one side and say we ought to pardon everyone for everything, but God doesn’t do that…
The love of God offers forgiveness for everyone that will accept it, but never for a moment has God shown bitterness or ill-will against anyone that rejects it.
Love should shape the way we relate to people, whether it’s a friend or enemy. Does love cancel the debt? Sometimes, if forgiveness is accepted, but think about this, does love let go of the resentment? Always...
The Bible commands us to be forgiving of others and be willing to give up resentment in our hearts.
Having an unforgiving spirit is detrimental to a person:
→ holding grudges,
→ hanging on to resentment, and
→ harboring bitterness.
In this text, we are shown the signs, the seriousness, and the sentence of an unforgiving person...
Withholding forgiveness to others who seek forgiveness from us shows that God’s forgiveness for us has never been received.
Examine yourselves tonight as we look at what the Bible says about unforgiveness.
I - THE GREAT DEBT
I - THE GREAT DEBT
This man apparently had been stealing funds from the king and, when the books were audited, his crime was discovered.
A talent was a unit of measurement - 1 talent was equal to 75 pounds.
We find in the Old Testament that the temple was constructed using 29 talents of gold. That’s over a ton of gold!
In the New Testament, wages were paid in Greek and Roman silver coins called denarii, 1 denarii was given as a day’s wage…It took 6,000 denarii to make 1 talent. So if one denarii was what a man like the ungrateful servant could earn in a day, he would need to work 6,000 days to earn one talent.
Ten thousand talents would equal 60 million denarii or 60 million days of work.
And this man actually thought he could get out of the debt.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
He told the king that, given enough time, he could pay it back.
There are actually two things we see right here that are sin: pride and a lack of sincere repentance.
The man was not ashamed because he stole the money; he was ashamed because he got caught. And he actually thought he was big enough to earn the money to repay the king’s account.
His case was hopeless, except for one thing: The king was a man of compassion. He assumed the loss and forgave the servant. This meant that the man was free and that he and his family would not be thrown into a debtor’s prison. The servant did not deserve this forgiveness; it was purely an act of love and mercy on the part of the master.
The man’s condition illustrates our state before God. We are all ten-thousand-talent debtors.
God has given us life, skills, and opportunities. In return, we have misappropriated His investment, abused His gifts, wasted our substance, despised His laws, ignored His claims, sinned constantly and with a high hand.
All men have accumulated an incalculable debt.
The man’s only hope, as is ours, was to cast himself on the mercy of the king, who was willing to forgive the debt.
This servant should have been the most grateful, humble, merciful, and forgiving person in the world.
But how did this man respond?
Jesus tells us an astonishing story of how this wicked servant responded.
II - THE GRIEVOUS DEALINGS
II - THE GRIEVOUS DEALINGS
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Jesus tells us how the unforgiving servant used his new found freedom. The Bible says that he tracked down a fellow servant that owed him a little money. As a matter and fact, 100 pence would have been about 3 months wage for a laborer, nothing at all compared to what the king had just forgiven him of.
This goes back to what I mentioned in the introduction - The man here in Matthew 18 was forgiven, but the forgiveness was really depending on a further work of grace being done in his heart. We can come to the conclusion that he experienced no such work, for instead of demonstrating the characteristics of a truly saved man, he went out and showed all the harshness and ruthlessness of his unregenerate heart.
“Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all,” the fellow servant pleaded, using the same words the forgiven debtor had used when appealing to his lord (18:29, compare 18:26).
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
But the man who had received mercy was adamant. He cast his fellow servant into the debtors’ prison.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
The poor man’s pleas made no impression whatsoever on the creditor’s hard heart.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The unjust servant was unwilling to grant to others what he wanted others to grant to him.”
Perhaps he had the legal right to throw the man in prison, but he did not have the moral right. He had been forgiven himself—should he not forgive his fellow servant? He and his family had been spared the shame and suffering of prison. Should he not spare his friend?
The world we live in is full of people like this unforgiving servant. They have never been touched by or transformed by the forgiveness of God! This world is out for number one (themselves)! The world will get back or get even. There is not much compassion or mercy or forgiveness in the world.
III - THE GRAVE DEMISE
III - THE GRAVE DEMISE
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
When we are unforgiving and mean spirited, word will get out. We do not live in a vacuum. How we treat others will be noted by others. The fellow servants saw how this unjust servant treated the fellow servant. The Bible says that they were very grieved.
When the evil man’s wickedness was brought to the attention of his lord, the king had him arrested at once. “O thou wicked servant,” he said, “I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” (18:32–33)
The word translated “wicked” here is ponēros. Ponēros and its synonyms are used in the New Testament to refer to human depravity and the wicked working of our evil nature. The wicked behavior of the unforgiving man revealed his unregenerate heart.
He was forced to face the consequences of his wickedness. The man had no plea, for he knew his case to be hopeless. The new sentence was far worse than the one that had been rescinded. Before he was to have been sold; now “his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him” (18:34).
IV - THE GRACIOUS DECISION
IV - THE GRACIOUS DECISION
The last verse of the eighteenth chapter of Matthew is frightening!
When Jesus had described the fate awaiting the unforgiving steward, He proceeded to say, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts, forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”
Sometimes Christians take too much for granted! They rejoice in the redemptive work of Christ, and proclaim the wonder of His forgiving grace, and yet their treatment of fellow Christians leaves much to be desired.
First John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Unfortunately, many Christians rejoice in the final section of that remarkable verse, but completely ignore the initial statement.
It is true the precious blood of Christ actually goes on cleansing from sin, but the main point is that men walk in the light.
John said, “IF—IF—we walk in the light,” we have fellowship and cleansing.
When a man refuses to walk in the light of God’s revealed word, and carries grudges against others within the family of God; when his spirit remains unforgiving, fellowship becomes an impossibility and sin remains unforgiven.
This is truth which the church needs to remember and teach.
It is possible for a Christian to be an expert theologian, a very enthusiastic speaker, and still be bankrupt in his soul.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
This is what the Bible has said to us today concerning unforgiveness.
What you do with it is up to you…I hope you’ll heed the words and be doers of the word, and not just hearers..
