Matthew chapter 18, we're going
to begin at verse 21 of Matthew chapter 18. And the title of
the message is The Grace of Forgiveness. The Grace of Forgiveness. And it is the kind of forgiveness
that we're going to be talking about as the Lord teaches His
disciples. It certainly is a matter of grace.
God's grace. I often quote a poem, and it's
kind of a funny poem, but I really don't mean it just to be humorous,
because it speaks a volume of truth. And what it has to do
with is, you know, when we go to be with the Lord, we are going
to be perfect in every way. Now, right now, we're perfect
in Christ, as we stand before God in Him, legally, He's our
representative, He's our surety, He's our substitute, He's the
Lord our righteousness. In other words, legally, the
Lord looks upon us in Christ and we have no flaws, no sin,
because sin cannot be charged. Now, God's not pretending there.
A lot of people say, well, you're saying that God pretends that
we're sinners when we're not. No. Now, what it is, he doesn't
charge us, impute those sins to us. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? So we are perfect in Christ legally,
but within ourselves, our thoughts, our state here on earth, we're
sinners saved by grace. And somebody said, well, which
would you emphasize, sinners or by grace? Both. Because we
all, we're sinful people. A lot of that works at our selfishness,
our self-righteousness. We're in a battle. And we're
not yet perfect in ourselves. So the poem that I quoted goes
like this. It says, to dwell above, that is in heaven, to
dwell above with saints we love will be an awesome glory. To
dwell below here on this earth to dwell below with saints we
know, well, that's another story. And that is, it is kind of funny,
but it's true. Because as long as we're on this
earth, we're in a battle. Now, we think about battles with
each other a lot of times, disagreements, things like that, slights. personalities, but you know the
main battle, where the main battle is, it's within ourselves. It's
called the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. The Holy Spirit
who indwells us, Christ who indwells us by his spirit and by his word,
he keeps us from going the full swing of our sinfulness. And
then the flesh hinders us in our desire to be holy, to be
as righteous as Christ, to be like him. And I think there's
one area of our lives in which that shows forth more than any
other, and it's in this grace of forgiveness. Because in this
life, we're gonna have disagreement. Now, let me say this before I
say that about disagreement. Among believers, There is absolutely
no disagreement on the gospel. How God saves sinners by his
grace through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And that's what I
want to start off with because when we talk about the command
of God for us to forgive one another, it has to be motivated
by the gospel. It has to be motivated by God's
grace. Look at verse 21. Now, the Lord had been talking
about when a brother offends a brother and how you come together
and how you deal with that. And then Peter says, in verse
21, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? What's the number? What's the
cutoff point? That's what Peter's asking. And
what Peter's question here, And the answer that the Lord gives
sets the stage for a parable that he's going to speak here
in just a moment. And it says in verse 22, Jesus
saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times. No, Peter,
not seven times, but until 70 times seven. Now don't get your
calculator out and multiply 70 times seven, because that's not
what he's saying. The point here is that there's
no end to it. There's no end to it. Now, can
we understand that? Can we grasp hold of that and
say, this is what I ought to do? Well, this is what the master
tells his disciples. I've got in your lesson here,
and I wanna show you this because this is so important. It has
to do with the fact that the Lord tells us that we're to forgive
our brethren who sin against us as, and listen to, as we ourselves
have been forgiven by God. And how have we been forgiven
by God? Oh, we couldn't even explore
the depths of it. the heights of it, the wideness
of it. There's a wideness in God's mercy
from east to west. There's no end to it. We are
objects of an everlasting covenant of grace and love that is totally
unconditional on our part. And it includes the forgiveness
of our sins. And how much have we sinned against
God? Somebody says, well, you don't know how much this person
sinned against me. Well, how much have we sinned
against God? There's no count to it. If God ever gave me what I deserve
or what I've earned, it would be hell. That's why salvation
is by grace, God's righteousness in Christ. And think about all
the blessings. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And over there in
Ephesians 1, where that passage is written, Ephesians 1, 3, it
talks about even the forgiveness of sin. Even that. And think about it. After God
brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ, and gives us the faith
to latch onto him and hold on for dear life, and brings us
to repentance of our dead works, we still sin against God. We
still sin against each other. If not in action, by thoughts. But by God's power and grace,
He's made us to come willingly to Christ and receive him as
our surety, our substitute, our redeemer, our king, all of that. As the completion and assurance
of our whole salvation. And there's not one blessing
in that treasure chest that I can look at you and say, now I earned
that one. I deserve that one. Nothing. I've got here in your lesson,
the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within every one of
his children, and as a result, we grow in grace and knowledge.
Now, are we growing in grace and knowledge? That's growing
in knowledge of the scriptures and knowledge of the glorious
person, the finished work of Christ, the assurance of faith. We think about growth in conduct. Somebody said, well, are you
better than you used to be? Well, it depends on what you're
talking about. I've often told you, I hope that I'm a better
father, grandfather, a better husband, a better friend, a better
brother than I was years ago. I hope I'm a better pastor than
I was years ago. But I know this, if I am better,
that has nothing to do with my standing before God. If God right
now, at my best, were to judge me based upon that best, I'd
be gone. You see, I have no righteousness
but Christ, you see. And that was freely given to
me as it was to you. So my point is this, none of
us, as I've written in your lesson, none of us have arrived at the
perfection that we can only claim in Christ by the imputation of
his righteousness to us. Paul wrote about that in Philippians
3. He said, I've not already attained. I've not already arrived. I'm perfect in Christ, legally,
justified, forgiven of all my sins. Past sins, present sins,
and even the sins I haven't even committed yet. I'm already forgiven,
and by one ground, the just ground of the blood of Christ, And therefore,
what he's saying, realizing that, having that as a reality in our
lives, we have to be ready to forgive one another when we sin
against one another. Think about it. And he says until
seven times, not just seven times. Somebody said, well man, I have
a hard time just one time. Well, we do have a hard time,
and I'll talk about that in just a minute. But 70 times seven. As there is no end to God forgiving
us, there can be no end of our forgiving one another. And that, listen, that situation
arises even within the church, doesn't it? We have to forgive
one another. And it has to be genuine, too.
And it's not easy. So we'll talk about that in just
a moment, too. But I think about this, I've
got in your lesson, we see a great example of this in Joseph. You
remember Joseph, whose brothers sold him into slavery? Wanted
to kill him. And then later on, when he, all
the stuff that he became second in command in Egypt, and they
were brought back to him, And they were afraid because they
just knew he was going to just put it on them. He's going to
kill us. Look at what we've done. Remember
what Joseph said? He said, don't be afraid. He
said, you meant it for evil now. You're not excused in what you
did, but God meant it for good. That's in Genesis chapter 50. You can read about that. Anyway,
okay, so what happens here? Now Christ speaks a parable of
forgiveness. Look at verse 23. We'll read
through the whole parable. It says, therefore is the kingdom
of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account
of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon,
take an account of, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000
talents. And verse 25 says, but as for
as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be
sold and his wife and his children and all that he had and payment
to be made. Now, think about it this way.
You know, many times in scripture, our sins are described as a debt,
a debt we owe to God's law and justice. Sin is running up a
debt. And the more we sin, we run up
that debt. Well, we know that our sin against
God has run up a debt, but it's a debt we can't pay. Some commentators
says this 10,000 talents would be like a million dollars. I
even read one commentator said it would be like a billion today,
I don't know. But what the point of the parable
is, it's an unpayable debt. This guy doesn't have any money
to pay this debt. Well, that's the way it is with us in God. We fell in Adam. We're born dead,
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. We sin against God. We're totally depraved. We owe
a debt to God's law and justice that we cannot pay. But thank
God before the foundation of the world, in that everlasting
covenant of grace, God chose us in Christ and made Christ
to be our what? surety What does that mean that
means the debt was put upon him and I often refer to this passage
in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17 where it says it behooved him
Christ to be made like unto his brethren that he might Make reconciliation
for the sins of the people that word behooved is the Greek word
for debt the reason Christ was chosen and sent into this world
is because our debt, the debt of God's chosen people, was laid
upon Him, imputed to Him, charged to Him. That's what it means
when He was made sin. He was made our sin bearer, our
sin offering. And He had to come to this earth
and become a man be made like unto his brethren in order to
pay that debt, because the payment was his own death, the blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission, no pardon of sin. And it had to be the
death of the God-man. If I died for you, that might
be a heroic thing, but it could not put away your sins, because
I'm a sinner too. That's why Christ could not have
been made a sinner. A sinner cannot put away the
sins of another sinner. That's why Peter wrote about
the spotless lamb, without blemish, without spot. But he was guilty,
he was made sin, he was cursed. Why? Because our sin debt was
charged to him, see? And so he paid our debt with
the price of his blood. So here's a man who has a debt
to the king that he can't pay. Well, look at verse 25. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children
and all that he had and payment to be made. Verse 26, the servant
therefore fell down and worshiped Worshipped him saying Lord have
patience with me and I will pay thee all Man had good intentions,
you know even people Who are lost in sin and ignorant of the
righteousness of God have good intentions, but they can't pay
that debt and in our case we get we don't even have one penny
to contribute to the payment of that our sin debt and But
verse 27 says, then the Lord of that servant was moved with
compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Now keep
this in its context now. He's not talking here about how
God forgives us based upon our seeking mercy and all that because
God forgives us unconditionally but conditioned on the blood
of Christ. So that's not what he's saying here. He's using
this to show how we should forgive one another. And so he forgave him the debt.
Well, God has forgiven our debt through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's even before we fell down and worshiped
him and begged for mercy. He shows us the debt paid through
the preaching of the gospel And then the Holy Spirit brings us
to fall down and worship him and beg for mercy. Like the old
publican, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Well, let's go
on, verse 28. It says, but the same servant went out and found
one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence. Now the idea
here is that compared to what this servant owed the king, the
servant that he found owed him very, very little. 100 pence. I've got it marked, I
think, in your lesson here what that would be, but I can't see
it now. I don't wanna hunt for it, but
it's a very, very small amount. I think my concordance says that
it's like a half penny or something like that, I don't know. But
anyway, it's a very little amount. And it says in verse 28, and
he laid hands on him, which means he grabbed hold of him, not in
a loving way, he wasn't giving him a hug, and took him by the
throat, saying, pay me what you owe me. Now isn't that something? Here this man had been forgiven
of a debt that was so humongous, and now he demands payment of
a debt that's virtually nothing. And it says in verse 29, and
his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him,
begged him, saying, have patience with me and I'll pay thee all.
Same thing the other guy said to the king. So when his fellow
servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and
told unto their lord all that was done. They told the king
what was done. And then his lord, after that
he had called them, said unto him, Yeah, here it is. Said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou
didst zire us me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on
thee? And his lord was wroth, angry,
and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was
due unto him. So there you have the wicked
servant. And the king's question, here's the key to it, should
you not have had compassion on your fellow servant even as I
had compassion on thee? Well look at verse 35, Christ
brings the lesson. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not
every one his brother their trespasses. Now I know That false religion
takes passages like this and says, see there? Our being forgiven
by God is conditioned on our forgiving others. And you have
to take this within the context. Number one, what is he teaching
here? He's talking about our relationship
with each other, okay? And true, our relationship with
each other, our forgiving one another, our treating one another,
our loving one another, and our forgiving one another, is based
upon how God has forgiven us. And so we keep it in a gospel
context, no doubt. But I gotta tell you, if you
read the rest of the scripture, in other words, if God forgiving
me, Now think about this now. Now think about it, and you don't
have to be honest with me, but be honest with yourself, okay? If God forgiving me is based
upon how I forgive all my enemies, and understand now, your neighbor
includes your worst enemy, where would I be? Where would you be? Think about
it. So if that's what he's teaching,
I'll be honest with you, we might as well close up the book and
go home. Because there's no hope for any
of us. And if you think there's hope for you based upon your
forgiving others, you're self-righteous. That's nothing but self-righteousness.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying this. However, the
master forgives you. That's how you ought to forgive
others. Well this servant, how did the master forgive this servant?
He forgave him. True, the man fell at his feet
and begged for mercy. I know that. But how does God
forgive us? Now look over at Ephesians chapter
one. I quoted this, but I want to show you this. This is something
that needs to be sealed in our minds, in our hearts. Understand
this. And listen, I'm the first to
tell you, this is not an easy thing for us. When somebody does
me wrong, God forgive me. A lot of times
my first thought is to get back at them. I want a piece of their
hide, you know. You know, that's the way it is.
And that's the flesh. God forgive me for that, you
know? But look at this, verse three.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. Now this is how this whole thing begins with us. Does God hold back any blessing
from his children because they're not acting right? And the answer
is no. No. Now, we may hurt ourselves
in our thinking, like being in the slew of despond and things
like that. Old Bunyan talked about that.
But then he says, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, were you there when all this
took place? Only in the heart and mind of
God. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love,
that's in Christ. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. You see that? Where does God's
forgiveness come from? It comes from himself. His sovereign
mercy and will through the blood of Jesus Christ. So understand
that. Whenever somebody does us wrong
or we think they've done us wrong, sometimes we think they've done
us wrong when they haven't. But we're so selfish, that's
the way we think. So whenever somebody does do
us wrong, how are we to forgive them? We may have a hard time
in other ways, and I'm not going to get into all that. But it's
not easy, because to dwell above with saints we love, that'll
be an awesome glory, but to dwell below with saints we know, well,
that's another story. Okay.