Sermon Tone Analysis

Part 2

July 18, 2021

"...And When You Pray"

And Forgive Us As We Forgive

Matthew 6:12; 14 & 15

Embracing God's Heart on Forgiveness:

Excuse-Proof Forgiveness

The Proof of Principled Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35 which reads:

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?

Up to seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'

27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28 "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'

30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant!

I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

START Here:

This morning we're returning to our ongoing series taken from the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew Chapter 6.

Our current focus is on verse 12 which focuses on "forgiveness" and reads:

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

In short it is saying:

12 And forgive us, As we forgive.

This verse is known as Petition Number 5 in the Lord's Prayer.

As we expand on the principle of forgiveness, our lesson has since taken us into deeper territory on the subject which has landed us in the 18th chapter of Matthew, verses 21-35.

[SLIDE]

The title of today's message installment is:

The Proof of Principled Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

When we were last here at this passage, we listened in on a conversation between Jesus and Peter where Peter asked Jesus "how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?

Up to seven times?" (Matt.

18:21).

We discovered that Peter was keeping score on the forgiveness scorecard and was apparently nearing or having reached the SEVEN-time limit which probably stemmed from some culturally accepted rule that had been put in place by the Jews.

22 Jesus said to Peter, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Then, Jesus proceeded to give Peter a view of biblical "forgiveness" from heaven's perspective.

He went on to say:

[SLIDE]

Matthew 18: 23-27

23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'

27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

That's where our lesson ended when we were last at this passage.

I wanted to end on a high, positive note.

I intentionally ended it at that point because I wanted this scenario to marinate in your minds before decoding it and addressing the second half of the story.

As Paul Harvey, the famous radio broadcaster used to say, before hearing ... "The Rest of the Story".

This morning, I want to breakdown some imperceptible facts related to the forgiven servant in Matt.

18. [I may refer to him as the 10K servant from time to time.]

As most of you know, there are two sides to every story.

But regardless of which side you listen to, the TRUTH always resides in the middle.

Thinking back on the first half of the story of the forgiven servant who was forgiven a debt of 10 thousand talents, I wanted you to reflect on how this servant was made to feel after being forgiven such a vast amount.

Someone said in today's dollars the 10 thousand talents would be worth over 3.48 billion dollars].

...But the point Jesus needs us to see is that the 10K debt was unpayable by the servant even if he were given 10 thousand lifetimes to pay it.

[SLIDE]

Ten Thousand Talents Worth in Today's Dollars:

$3.48 billion in modern money

10,000 talents is 200,000 years of labor!

It is 60,000,000 working days.

Ten thousand talents were symbolic and synonymous for "impossibly unachievable".

(Our sins can never be forgiven without Jesus's blood).

So, given that, how do you think the forgiven servant was feeling after having been forgiven such a large sum of money?

Perhaps: Great, elated, better than relieved, wowed, excited, ecstatic, beyond expression, and totally overcome with emotion?

But what might the 10K servant been so elated, appreciative, relieved, or happy about?

This question would seem to be a no-brainer seeing we just witnessed him have an insurmountable debt wiped away.

It would seem obvious that he would be thrilled, overjoyed, and exhilarated.

But is that true?

Is that the case here.

Is that an accurate assessment of this servant's level of gratitude?

By the way, What was his level of gratitude?

Was he truly grateful and about what?

Let's test it!

Exactly, what was the servant's attitude and motive toward having his debt wiped out and being forgiven?

* Was he jubilant about being forgiven a large debt?

* Or, was he overjoyed that his wife and children didn't have to go to prison and be enslaved with him?

* Or, was he relieved that his resources (cars, boats, houses, rental property, jewelry, stocks & bonds, businesses, etc.) were spared and not seized and liquidated?

* Or, was he thankful that his reputation as a businessman and dignitary was not blemished or destroyed?

Now, let's look back at each of our own salvation experience [and contrast it with the motive of the forgiven servant] .

The ultimate case of FORGIVENESS.

When you got born again, "were you elated, relieved, excited, ecstatic beyond expression, thrilled, overjoyed, exhilarated?

Exactly, what were all these emotions driven by?

Similar to the forgiven servant's case, was your attitude and motive tied to having been forgiven of sin because of Christ, or . . .

did your relief and elations stem from other indirect motives - like the fact that:

* You were no longer going to hell.

* You now had eternal life?

* Or, that you would know be accepted by the church and church folk?

* Maybe you made God a promise that if He delivered you or fixed something for you, you would give Him your life.

* You needed to get saved in order to marry another saved person or you could sing in the choir?

* And on and on.

Did you know that all these will weaken a Believer's ability to extend complete forgiveness to others if Christ's sacrificial death, burial and resurrection aren't at the heart of your salvation.

So you ask, How so?

It is so, because none of these motives are premised upon experiencing Jesus' complete forgiveness of you.