All right, I want you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs chapter 28, I'd like
to look at verse three. A poor man that oppresseth the
poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food. A needy man, now the thing about
it is the word poor, a poor man that oppresses the poor, those
two words are translated the same thing in English, but they're
not in Hebrew. They're different words. The
first word, poor, there is a needy man, one who is impoverishing
himself. He's poor, but he's impoverishing
himself. A needy man that oppresseth,
that presses that violates or does violence to one who, here
again it says poor, but it means feeble, thin, hanging, low. One that is poor, impoverishing
himself, that oppresses one that's hanging, just thin, feeble, frail,
just as nothing, nothing. It's like a sweeping rain that
just comes through and just torrential rain, like a hurricane, and just
scrapes off everything, just doesn't leave. Takes dirt, takes
the seed, it takes everything. There's just nothing there. That's
what he's saying. Now, to understand this harsh,
cold, indifferent spirit and to see the consequences of it,
I want us to turn back to Matthew 18. This is, Lord willing, you'll
see why in the first service I was in Matthew 18 dealing with
this issue of forgiveness, because the Lord is going to continue. Remember what we just read in Proverbs chapter 28. A poor man, one that is impoverishing
himself, that oppresses just hard. One that's just feeble,
just hanging on. Just, he has nothing, nothing. He's like a sweeping rain. Takes
away the food. Now, to understand that, I want
us to look at Matthew now, chapter 18, and I'm gonna, Lord willing,
I wanna pick up where we were, and we stopped a minute ago in
chapter 20, verse 20, I'm sorry. Well, in verse 21, after the Lord had been teaching
on forgiveness, mercy, compassion, gentleness, kindness. Then, verse
21, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how often shall my
brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? And then the Lord said unto him,
verse 22, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
70. times seven. What he's saying is, you don't
ever stop forgiving. One comes before, he's offended
you, and if he comes and asks for forgiveness, you keep forgiving
him. You forgive him. How often shall
my brother miss the mark? What he said, how often shall
my brother sin? How often can he come short? of what I think he ought to be
in my eyes. How many times do I forgive him? Well, the Lord gave us an answer
to this. Hold your place in Matthew. We'll
come back here. Look at Luke 17. Luke 17, three and four.
Luke 17. Luke 17, three and four. Take heed to yourselves, if I,
brother, trespass against thee. Now, okay, intentionally, unintentionally,
just something that happened and it just offended you. Take heed, if I, brother, trespass
against thee, Rebuke him, now you know before, we got that
word rebuke, and we always think of that word as being here again,
that harsh, rebuke him. It means lay before him the issue. As we saw before in the Lord's
instruction, Matthew 18, go to him privately, speak to him kindness,
remembering the Lord's present, the Lord is present. Boy, I tell
you what, that'll take some air out of your, you know, proud
sails. The Lord is present, the Lord's listening. The Lord's
listening. Take heed to yourselves, if I,
brother, trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent,
if out of a spirit of, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. What does the Lord
say? Forgive him, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, seven times in a day, turn again to thee,
saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. You mean over and over and over
again, is that what you're saying? Yeah, look at the next verse.
And the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Lord, help us. Help us. We are to realize that, again,
we are creatures of the dust. And a brother or sister convicted
of a fault, if they ask forgiveness, you forgive him, forgive him.
Even if it happens numerous times in a day, forgive him. For to not forgive him is dangerous. I want you to turn to Matthew
6. Just stay right there in Matthew. Hold your place in Matthew 18.
Turn over to Matthew 6. Look where the Lord, let's start
in verse 11 here. The Lord's teaching this, the
prayer. Matthew 6, 11, give us this day
our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses. Now let me ask you something. Our forgiveness before the Father
is predicated on whether or not we forgive somebody else, no.
Let me just answer that for you real quickly, no. The Father
does not forgive us because or for the reason that we have forgiven
others. But here's what our Lord is saying. A heart that forgives is a heart
born of God. It's a heart that'll consider
another above himself. The Lord said that. You esteem
others better than yourself. But if there's no heart for forgiveness,
to the glory of God, Peace of God's people, there's no place
for mercy. There's no place for kindness,
no place for compassion toward those that have truly asked for
forgiveness. I'm sorry, please, I'm wrong,
I was wrong. I did it, I'm sorry I did it. Either I did it on purpose, I
did it ignorantly. I'm sorry, please forgive me. For Christ's sake, for the sake
of the assembly, for the peace of God's people, please forgive
me. No. No. If there's no place of forgiveness,
no desire of reconciliation, according to the instruction
of the Lord and His will, that's a dangerous place to be.
Because that's the exhibition. of an unregenerate heart. I say
that's too hard. I'm just telling you what the
Lord said. I'm just gonna stay right here on what he says, and
then we'll leave it at that. If he offends you seven times,
the Lord said, you forgive him, and he repents, and he's sorry. Somebody might say, well I tell
you what, it just seems like to me that's an awful long time.
A lot of times in one day to truly be repentant. That just
seems like that's a little iffy to me. Let me ask you something.
How many times in a day have we offended the Lord? Now let's
just stop and just think about that. How many times have we
offended, how many times do we offend? Sins of commission, Omission. I mean, before we start looking
at somebody else and saying, you know what, I think he's... Consider yourself. Listen how
the Lord forgives his people. First John 1.9, if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Aren't you thankful that there's
not a point in a day and an hour when the Lord would say, no,
no, you didn't mean that. God's people mean it. When they
ask the Lord to forgive them, they mean it. They mean it. They
know. They know, they know they've had a bad attitude. They know,
they know, they know. So we are not to set a limit
back in Matthew 18. We don't set a limit or measure
on those that trespass against us. If they're seeking forgiveness
and reconciliation, then forgive them, forgive them. And another
thing, another thing. I got to thinking about this
word forgive. Forgive. Somebody starts talking
about it, say, well, I've forgiven them, but, but there, but, but,
but, but. Hold your place in Matthew 18,
turn back to Matthew 9. Here is the first, first entry
in the New Testament of the word forgiven. I want to read it to
you. Matthew 9, verse 1 and 2. Matthew
9, and he entered into a ship and passed over and came into
his own city, and behold, they brought to him a man sick of
the palsy, lying on a bed, and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now let me tell you what the
heart, this is the heart of the word forgive. You know, when
you say forgive, what do you mean? Send it forth. Lay aside. Let it alone. So when we forgive, let it go. Let it go. Don't hold on to it,
don't mark it. We shun to bring it up again. If a debt at the bank, if you
got a letter from the bank and you owed some money and you got
a letter one day and said an anonymous payee or whatever the
right word is has paid the debt and your debt now is forgiven.
paid. What do you think that means?
You think you're going to get a bill next month? No, it's over. It's forgiven. You forgive it.
So when we say forgive, let it go. Let it go. Don't drag it up again. Let's take apart and stir it. Well, after Peter, back in Matthew
18, After Peter asked him, you know, how many times, and the
Lord said, not seven, not, 70 times 70, that's meaning indefinite
number, don't, no. Then the Lord gave a parable.
Now just to tie this in, I'm gonna tell you right here. Back
in Proverbs 28, three, the poor that oppresseth the poor is like
a sweeping rain. It driveth away all the food.
Okay, this is the part right here. Now I've come to the part
where I wanna relate what's being said in Proverbs 28, three, the
poor, that one that's, you know, demonize himself when he oppresses
one that's helpless and poor and thin, needy. Verse 23, then therefore is the
kingdom of heaven Now what do I mean when I say the kingdom
of heaven? I'm talking about the church being found in this
world from the creation to the second coming. Here's the kingdom
of heaven on this earth. The kingdom of heaven is likened
to a certain king which would take account of his servants. Now here's the Lord was saying
that if you want to know in this, the church as we know it, is
likened to a certain king, who is a type of none other than
the Lord God of heaven. And he would take into account
of his servants. Basically, what is being said
right here, we're going to see what is owed to the king. He's going to take into account
all of his servants. Everybody in his kingdom. Okay,
well, who is all found within the kingdom of God? Well, in
mercy, his elect. All souls are his, all of them. Everybody in this world belongs
to him. They're in his kingdom, not of it, not all of them, but
they're in it. So here's what's that? A certain king, he was gonna
take account of his servants. Now, you're gonna find out what
do they owe? Now, what does a man or woman
born into this, what do they owe? Everything, what do we owe? Everything, everything. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein. But if we're gonna bring down
what we owe to the Lord, this is what, turn over to Matthew
22. Let me flip over a couple pages. Let me tell you what we're
gonna come right down to. I'm gonna read it right here.
Matthew 22, verse 34. Matthew 22, 34, but when the
Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence,
they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master,
which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
The second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. And these two commandments hang
all the law and prophets. Now let me ask you something.
What did he just say? What do we owe God? We owe him love,
respect, obedience. Obedience. What is the law? Love the Lord thy God with all
your heart, all your soul, all your being. You love your neighbor
as yourself. Now what do we owe? Obedience
to that law. Obedience. But here's the problem. We've all failed. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. So we've come short of the
glory of God, but we don't realize the debt. He's going to take
account of his servants. But what do we owe? What is the debt? Well, in a
parable, now remember something, a parable is never the exact
demonstration of the reality. It's a picture, it's a type.
If the sun was shining, I'd go out there and stand on the road,
and my shadow would be right there, and depending on which
way I turned, it's kind of funny, you can turn a different way,
and I'll see different things. That's not really me. That's
a shadow. It's a representative. It's a
demonstration of, but it may not even look like, and if I
turn this way, it may have a different shape, but it's representative
of me. This is a picture. It's a type. So remember. All right, back
in Matthew 18, verse 24, what do we owe? Well, let's look at
verse 24, 25. When he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, his wife, his children,
and all that he had in payment to be made. Now, here was a man
that owed the king 10,000 talents. Now, I tried to the best of my
ability to figure out what that current value was here in 2022. I know that you look in the margin,
and you said a talent, my margin is 750 ounces of silver, which
is after five shillings the ounce. I tried to find out, and to the
best of my ability, and if there's somebody out there and you find
out a different number, I'm willing to acquiesce. But here, to the
best of my ability, is what this man owed the king. $435,700,000. 135 million bucks. And when the man had nothing to pay,
the king commanded that that man was to be sold, his wife,
his children, all he had, and whatever was gotten, that goes
to the king. But I would dare be willing to
say that he didn't have $435 million worth of stuff. He still
owed. Now, what's being set forth here
is the indisputable and immeasurable debt that all men owe unto God
because of disobedience. Penalty of that disobedience
was death. That's a serious, that was a
serious flaw. Sin in man. And so here this
man has nothing to pay. He couldn't, $435,700,000? He didn't have it. Somebody will say, well, how
in the world can somebody run up a debt like that? We did before
God. We did. And likewise, according
to the truth of this parable, we can't pay either. I don't
know how much I owe. I don't know the depth of my
offense before God. I have no idea. Can you just
get an inkling of, by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified
in his sight? I don't even know how much I
owe. How much do you owe? We owe Him more than we can imagine.
We owe Him more than we can pay. And without payment, our lot
is eternal punishment and death. And the debt will never be paid. It'll never be paid. We have
sinned against an infinite God. So our debt toward Him is infinite. How do you pay a debt to the
infinite God? You don't. in yourself. Apart from satisfying the demand
for obedience, we'll never pay. Not in ourselves. Our debt to
God's law is such that without a sacrifice of His choosing,
of His acceptance, a surety on our behalf, one in whom the Lord
God is well pleased One who can and did bear the weight of our
sin. He bore it all. How much was
it? I don't know. I don't know. But
whatever mine was and whatever all the other was of all the
people that will ever be born into this world that are vessels
of His mercy, He bore it all. You said, I can't even imagine. No, I can't either. I believe
He did. Thankfully he did. He made himself
answerable and responsible, liable for the debt of his people. The
Redeemer who could and did answer for us. One who had no guilt
in himself, who could truly make himself answerable before God
and suffer the penalty and the wrath of God's broken law. An answer to the nth degree,
the last drop. When he said it was finished,
Oh, what three wonderful words for a vessel of God's mercy.
It's finished, you see. I'm free. I'm free. How much do you owe God? Well, before the law, I don't
owe Him anything. Debt's been paid, paid in full. What do we
owe Him now? A debt of thanksgiving. Thanks
be unto Him for His immeasurable mercy and grace. If that's not
the case, though, I can't pay, and I'll never be able to pay
the debt owed to a holy God. But then, verse 26, the servant
therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me, and I'll pay thee all. Have patience with me, I'm gonna
make it good. Now, humanly speaking, here he
is, pleading for mercy, patience because he's God. He caught,
he knew something of the debt before, but now he knows something
of the consequences. And he's willing to declare that
if you give me enough time, give me enough time, be patient with
me, and I'll pay the whole debt back. No, he wouldn't. No, he wouldn't. The sad thing
is that apart from the illuminating grace of God, God's people, Realize,
I can't pay. See, that's the fallacy of the
carnal heart. They think that they can pay
with their free will. What does that mean? How's the
payment of that? No, no, no, no, no. No, I can't
pay. Well, the scripture says, verse
20 said, then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion.
Oh my. and forgave him the debt. Gone. It's gone. He had compassion
on him. And there is joy in the heart
of one, I'm sure, that's been truly made to see. He's come
to the end of himself and his helplessness and inability to
play. And the king was moved with compassion
because he saw the need of this man, but well, how wonderful,
how wonderful that the God of heaven, for Christ's sake, for
Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, is merciful and compassionate
unto those who come to him for forgiveness. They come because
they were made willing in the day of God's power. They didn't
come because if God would have left us to himself, we wouldn't
have come. We wouldn't have asked him. We'd just go like in our
rebellion, They've come because of a new heart. They come to
him. He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast him out. Given to the son, redeemed by
the son, regenerated to behold the son in their need of him,
cry out for mercy. And that servant right there
heard the king loose him of the debt that was owed. He heard
those words and oh, what a glorious picture. of hearing the freedom
that's expressed in the gospel of God's free grace. But a sad
thing, a tragic thing took place. Verse 28, 29, the same servant
went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him
100 pence. He laid hands on him, and he
took him by the throat, saying, pay me what you owe. His fellow servant fell down
at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me,
and I will pay thee all. Now, here's one that's just been
relieved of $435 million debt, a debt that sets forth, again,
the indescribable debt owed to God by all men for disobedience. But for those that know Him in
Christ, their debt truly has been. But there are some that
truly hear of their debt being relieved. They're resting in
what they've done and what they've said. Maybe he felt, you know,
I was a good, He did a good show. Maybe he did forgive me, but
something is exposed here. Something is exposed that's truly
revealing. Here was a man forgiven $435
million, and he goes, and here again, to the best of my ability,
comes to a man that owes him 100 pence, 400 bucks, around
400 bucks. And here's what he does. I want
payment, and I want payment now. You've offended me. You've offended
me. And this second poor man, here,
the poor, one that is taking themselves and hating themselves,
that oppresseth, that pushes hard, that presses down on the
feeble, the thin, the frail, the hanging on, It's like the
sweeping rain that leaves no food. Here was one that was forgiven. And again, I do understand if
the Lord truly has ever forgiven his people, the debt's never
brought up again. But for those that think themselves
to have been forgiven by the Lord because of their works, if that spirit of forgiveness
I'm going back to where I was in the first chapter here, I
mean first message. If that spirit of forgiveness is not found,
no, I will not. Be careful, be careful. Let him
that stand, be careful. Let him lest he fall, be careful.
Now obviously this first servant, forgiven of that $435 million,
unmoved, unmoved by the plea for kindness
and mercy and compassion. He was unmoved by what had been
shown him. And mercilessly, he took the
other one to Scripture and said, I want you to notice how hard
this man is. Verse 28, the same servant went
out, found the one his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred
pence. He doesn't even say he said anything to him. What did
he do? Walked up to him, laid his hands on him, and grabbed
him by the throat. Have mercy. The scripture says, Verse
29, the fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him.
He called him near and he said, please, I implore you, have mercy,
be patient with me and I'll pay. And the one that was relieved
of all the money, he wouldn't hear it. He threw the debtor,
that's what he said, have patience and I will pay thee. And verse
30, and he would not, he would not, and he went and cast him,
threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. He wasn't
satisfied until he saw this poor, hanging, thin, feeble, frail
man thrown into jail and heard the door slam shut on him. I want my money. I want my money. I want it now. I want justice.
I want justice. Well, verse 31, 35. So when the
fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry. And
they came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then
his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked
servant. Uh-oh. Here was one that thought he
was forgiven. Here was one that made claim to be one forgiven
of a debt. made claim to it. And what did
the king say? What did he call him? You're
wicked. I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And
his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he
should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly
father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts Forgive not
everyone his brother their trespasses. Now again, who said that? The
Lord said it. If you from your heart, from
your heart, God looks on the heart. Men make claim, God looks
on the heart. Brethren, let's remember, these
things are set forth by our precious Savior concerning the spirit
the attitude of a believer. We're frail creatures of the
dust. Yes, yes. And we struggle, we struggle.
But there is a new man that follows the Lord, desires to follow him,
seeks him, and is ashamed of not following him as he ought. And then there he is asking the
Lord to forgive him, right then, and the Lord forgives him. Oh, remember the clear revelation
of our Lord. If you forgive not those who
trespass against you, it's a sign, it's an evidence. Our responsibility
of forgiving one another is definite. Here was a man forgiven of $435
million, and he wouldn't forgive somebody that owed him 400 bucks.
The believer that has been forgiven of everything, all of his sins,
Christ is born, put them away, and we can't forgive somebody
over some insignificant nothing, nothing. What we owe him is indescribably
greater than what anybody owes us. Somebody offends us in one
little old thing and we fly off the handle. What have we done
before him and been forgiven? Here, we realize that the amount
that we've been forgiven, It's indescribable. What men owe us. John 13, 35, by this, shall all
men know that you're my disciples. Have love one for another. Oh,
may God have mercy upon us. Lord, please don't leave me to
myself. Please don't leave me to, you know, let me not. Pass me not, oh gentle Savior.
Hear this humble, broken, needy cry. While on others you're called.
Amen.