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To Forgive
You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have
Matthew 18:21-35
Last week we talked about how you and I have been forgiven by Jesus and how you and I need to accept that forgiveness
Your debt of sin has been paid ou simple need to stand up and accept that gift that God has given you
Along with your debt of sin being paid God has forgiven you, you need to simple accept that forgiveness
The way in which you accept that forgiveness is told by Paul in
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
To confess that Jesus is Lord is to turn away from the other small l lords in our life
To repent from the sin in our life
To believe that Jesus is who he says he is to have faith in Jesus and Jesus alone
That is how you and I accept that gift of forgiveness
This morning we will see how you and I are to forgive
Forgiveness seems easy to talk about here
Right its easy to talk about forgiveness in a safe spot where nothing happens
Peter goes to Jesus and asks a question
21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “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.
You can almost picture them sitting or walking together and Peter says Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him
Lord how much should I forgive someone
How much should I continue to forgive someone
Now because we are in church and this is a safe place it would easy for us to say as much as it takes
That is hard though when we go outside these four walls that we are to forgive sometimes
Peter asks Jesus is it up to 7 times
Peter things he is being generous because he would have been taught probably by the local rabbi that God forgave only 3 times
IN Amos we see how God forgave 3 transgressions but not the 4th
So for peter to say up to 7 times I am being generous to forgive that many
And Jesus answers in such a way to deflat Peter
Jesus blow Peters answer out of the water
70 * 7
70 * 7 is 490
Jesus is saying that up to 7 times is not enough but 490 times
Now this is not intended for you to keep track of the times you have forgiven people but for it to be so many that you lost track and have to start over
So 490 is so high that you don’t keep track and continue to forgive people
To think if you had to keep track of how many times you have forgiven people
Some of you have been married for some time and you can speak to forgiveness that it is a must in your marriage
What might be interesting is that if that is not clear enough he then gives a parable to get his point across that there is no limit to your forgiveness to others
Again church that is easy in this place but tomorrow Monday is happening or Thursday is happening
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
Jesus starts this parable out with a King who wants to settle accounts
Someone owes the king money and has not paid that debt
The king says fine, I will sell you off and recoup my money
But the slave cry’s for mercy and the king says ok, I will forgive you debt
This would have been a great amount of debt for the king to sell off the whole family to recoup the money
But non the less the king felt compassion on the slave and forgave his debt
How amazing is that
To be forgiven 10,000 talents according to my Bible it says that 10,000 talents would have been 5,760,000 dollars worth of Gold or 384,001 worth of silver
That is a lot of money and way to much money to every pay back in a life time
Last week this person should love much because he has been forgiven much
It would make sense for this person who has been forgiven much to go out and continue to forgive much
I mean this person has just been forgiven the unforgivable in a sort of way
But sadly that is not the case
28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
The slave who was forgiven the unforgivable amount of money goes and find the guy who owes him some money
A danaria my Bible says that is equal to 32 dollars
Or a days wages
So the guy owes him 32 days wages or a month
So the guy who was forgiven very very much is not willing to have mercy and compassion for just a days wages
It seems this guy doesn’t understand that he was forgiven the unforgivable right
But the people around him go and tell the king who had just forgiven this guy
31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
This man is tormented because he would not forgive
Even though he had been forgiven much he still refused to go out and forgive others
This man is being disciplined for his un forgiveness
It would appear that his forgiveness was only in his head, or only skin deep
It had not yet made it to his heart
Jesus is sharing the Parable with Peter to show that He must forgive people
That He must be forgiving people and there is no limit to the forgiveness that we are to be giving people
Because there was no limit to the forgiveness given to us
But to also note that there will be punishment for those who have been forgiven and still do not forgive
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
That you and I are to forgive as Christ has forgiven us
Remember of all that you have been forgiven of
Some of us have been forgiven what most people would deem unforgivable
Not that we are ranking sin or comparing sin but
God pulled you out of some stuff
You were in some sin and in it deep
But God
But came and took all your junk and has forgiven the debt
All God asks of us is that we forgive just like we have been forgiven
That doesn’t mean that you and I become door mats for people because God is not a door mat for people
But because you have been forgiven much
We are to forgive much
That is only the work of Christ inside you for that to be possible
We are to forgive from the heart as Christ has forgiven you and I
CLOSING
As we call the band up and move to our time of invitation
It is just that
A time that we invite you to respond to the work of Christ this morning
Maybe you are here and do not have a personal relationship
We would invite you to the front and you can speak with someone who can show you through scripture how you can accept that free gift of salvation given to us only by Christ
Or maybe you already have a personal relationship with Christ but struggle to forgive someone and this morning you understand you are to forgive as Christ has forgiven you
Or maybe you need to simply spend sometime in prayer
The altar is open