We continue this morning in our
Bible studies, our series of studies that we've started, titled
Simon Peter, an Apostle of Christ. Turn to Matthew, if you would. We're in the 18th chapter of
Matthew. And you'll recall there are some
five lessons that Pastor Fortner pointed out in this chapter,
in this 18th chapter. And they're all instructional
lessons. Last week, our instructions were how we should, the Lord
is teaching Peter and the other apostles, how he and we should
deal with correction. in the church congregation. And I stuck with what Pastor
Fortner had said last week because that was an area that I'm very
new at, but I did make a very good point that I want to make
again, and that is, I am so thankful. I really am so thankful that
our Lord has provided men with wisdom such as Brother Mike Loveless
and Brother Bill and Roger and Garrett and even Daryl as men
who support and are members of the team that lead this church. It's not just John who's leading
the church. We have a group of men, elders,
deacons, and these are It's important for us to remember
to count on each other in those kinds of things. Now, we have
been blessed so far and have not had to since I've been in
this position to conduct any correction. God has
blessed us in a great way. Pastor Gene and Judy went through
a split of the church within the first two years of their
ministry. And it was because of corrections. Some believed that it needed
to be corrected one way, others were of a belief another. It had to do with the free will
ministry. And to be honest with you, God's direction in leading
it to continue on in the free and sovereign grace ministry
was just outstanding, even though it did split the church. We looked at those instructions
on what the Lord gave us in last week's study. This week, we continue
with the subject of forgiveness. If you recall in last week's
study, we considered that we don't take a person and beat
them over the head with their whatever it is that they need
to be corrected from. We did that once, and that's
why I'm in this position today. When the pastor of this church
was questioned on that very thing and what was going on with that,
he came and went and became against the two men, Mike Loveless and
myself. That's an incorrect way for a pastor to do business,
to do correction within the congregation. We do it with love. It's all
about love. It really comes down to this. We need to love our brothers
and sisters just as Christ has loved us. Now that's a lot easier
said than done. I know. I have family. I've got
five brothers and sisters and they have not always been easy
to love. There have been many times where we've butted heads
big time. Fortunately, it hasn't been many
years since then. Most of that was in our teenage
years, and most of the time I lost because Lee was bigger than I
am. And so was Ann. And Nancy and David just ran.
Did you get my point, though? Remember how this chapter started?
Look at verses 1. You know, I got away from my
notes. We're looking in the instructional
chapter 18 on Peter's tour of life, looking to how Peter grew
in grace of our Savior to the point that the Lord led him to
write the two epistles, 1 and 2 Peter. Now, once again, I remind
us this 18th chapter of Matthew should be read and understood
as a single sermon, one of the greatest and most important sermons
ever to fall from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject
of the sermon is children. the children of God. The purpose
of the message is to teach the church of God as a family of
imperfect, weak children how to get along with each other
in this world. Our blessed Savior teaches us
five distinct lessons, and those were, everyone who enters the
kingdom of heaven must do so as a child. We looked at that
in chapter 18, verses 1 through 14. All of God's children are to
be treated by us as God's children. We looked at that in verses 5-9. They are all to be cared for
as God's children. We looked at that in verses 10-14. And then last week we looked
at verses 15-20 when they require all must be disciplined as children. A father disciplines his child
because they love them. I want to see my son grow up
to be a good man. My correction of him is, look
at the world around us today. Look at the kids. For those of
you who couldn't be here, we sat here in this very building
just a few weeks back and watched a child lay down over here in
the middle of that aisle at a wedding and just go completely nuts.
And all the mother did was, pick up the child, didn't try
to take the child outside and correct the child at all. Now
how do you expect that child to grow up? Exactly the way they're
acting, laying on the floor. And it's funny how people are
surprised now that when their children grow up and start acting
that way as grown adults. Well, they acted that way when
they were children. My dad, I get a chance to share
you with this, my father, My dad, Calvin Samuel Ellis, by
the time he came around, I was too rebellious for him to control.
But my father used to make us go out and cut our own switches
off the willow tree. And if we didn't bleed, he wasn't
hitting us hard enough. But it taught us. It taught us
the right way to do things. We don't get away with stealing.
We don't get away with lying. Our Father in heaven deals with
us out of love. He has loved us so much that
He gave His only begotten Son for our sakes. What greater love
can that be? That's how we deal with the discipline
of the church. And we looked at that in verses
15 through 20. This morning, our study is they,
the children of God, must be forgiven as God's children. Verses 21-35. So let us recall what happened
leading our Lord to give this sermon. Look at verses 1-3 of
chapter 18. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? There you go, folks. The apostles
of Christ, the disciples of the Lord. Who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto him, set him in the midst of them, and he said, Verily
I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's
sad, yes. It's very sad. But the truth
of the matter is we are all sinners. Each and every single one of
us. Our loved ones. Our brothers and sisters in Christ. We sin against our God. And we can sin against each other
just as well. It's our nature. It's the nature
of this flesh and it's never going to go away. It's a battle that we will fight.
Unfortunately, our Lord has fought that battle for us, but it's
a battle that we must turn from in this flesh on a consistent
basis. There's a lot of temptations
out there, folks. Temptations of the world that
glitter and sparkle, and oh, I want this, and oh, I want that. Just because it's our nature,
does not excuse our actions. God, please help us to turn from
our sin. Just a few weeks back, during
that same ceremony where the child was laying on the ground
kicking and screaming, I told a young couple in their ceremony
of wedlock to be forgiving of each other. The husband should
love his wife as Christ has loved his bride. forgiving so much so to the very
point of sacrificing oneself to make amends. I wrote that in my notes because
I fail. I fail so much in this very thing. forgiving to the point of sacrificing
myself. Thus saith the Lord. Look at
verses 21 and 22. Then came Peter to him and he
said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I
forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, saying
unto Peter..." Now remember, we're looking at what Peter is
learning, what the Lord is personally teaching Peter, what the Lord
is personally teaching each of us. "...I say unto thee, until seven
times, but until seventy times. I say not unto thee, until seven
times, but until seventy times seven." 70 times 70. I wrote that wrong. 70 times 7. Now, I would think the wives that
hear this, you ladies, and I'm looking right at my wife, After
a long marriage, does it not feel like you've been forgiving
us husbands for at least that many times? I know she has. I know she has. It's not 70 times 7, it's a point
of continuous forgiveness. If our Lord was to stop forgiving
us after 70 times 7, how many of us would still be forgiven
today? It's a picture of completion all the way down the road that
we can go. The point is this, that if God
has forgiven us, should we not be forgiving also? And to clarify
that this is the point the Lord is making, let's look at verses
23 through 35, a parable that our Lord is going to use to teach
his disciples. After saying, I say not unto
thee, speaking to Peter, until 70 times 7, 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,
one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. 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 be made. And the servant therefore fell
down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me,
and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of the servant
was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the
debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow
servants which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him,
and he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet beside him, saying, Have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all. And he would not. but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when
his 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, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou
hast desirous 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
every one of his brothers their trespasses." What a blessing for us as a church
that God the Holy Ghost would put into the mind of Peter to
ask this very question. which gave rise to this very
parable the Lord has given his disciples, to teach them, and
which no child of God would have lost for a world of others. The
parable itself, in its first plain and obvious sense, represents
the boundless mercies of the Lord. In canceling a most enormous
debt, even 10,000 talents for that day, which would amount
to the sum of about 54 million in today's money, A sum most incredible indeed.
But what sum can represent the greatness of God's mercies? Well, the same goes for ours.
What sum is worth the mercies of God's people? Robert Hawker
wrote this. He said, the kingdom of heaven
is well known to mean the church of Christ in the present dispensation
times. The parable saith that the Lord
of this kingdom, that is Christ, would take account of his servants,
that is his people, his church, his chosen, not the whole world,
for though by creation the earth is the Lord's and all that there
is therein, yet here the Lord is speaking to his redeemed.
The one brought to him in debt is the representative of all.
And his debt was so great that the everlasting slavery of himself
and all the race to which he belonged could never cancel the
debt nor pay it in this state. And the Lord forgives him. Now the debt forgiven could never
be recalled. His cruelty to his fellow servant,
horrible as it was, could never unsay what his Lord had said.
Neither is the pardon of our sins suspended upon our pardoning
of others. But the sense of the parable
seems to be this. How truly undeserving must be
all those who are made partakers of the rich, full, and free salvation
of God, who, in the view of their 10,000 talents forgiven, are
unkind and unforgiving to their fellow creatures. In this sense,
the tormentors to whom the unforgiving servant was delivered will be
the source of a disquietude to his mind, as long as the conscious
sense of his ingratitude shall remain. But though this must
be agreeably to the whole tenure of scripture, the general sense
of the parable is yet we are not authorized to strain the
sense of the parable too far. The general scope of our Lord's
meaning by it is evidently this. to show that as we hope for mercy,
we are supposed to show mercy. And as the consciousness of sin
is pardoned in Christ, it should prompt us and will prompt the
heart of grace to be merciful to everyone around, those who
bear the image of Christ and to forgive from the heart everyone,
his brother and their trespasses. In Ephesians 4.32, I read this,
be ye kind one to another. tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Be, therefore,
followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior." I ask you this this morning.
Would you win a fallen brother with harshness? No. Show Him forgiveness. Show our brothers and sisters
in Christ forgiveness and see the love that comes back in return.
Would you prove your faith to those around you by the harshness
of your actions? No. Love those around you. Forgive those who trespass against
you and show the love of Christ in you. Let me ask you this,
would you grow in grace if the harshness is wrapped around
your heart? Practice forgiveness. Practice
forgiveness and see the love that comes in return. Would you
like to be like God? Forgive those who offend you.
Forgive and forgive and forgive. Oh, Lord, help us to relentlessly,
freely, and sincerely forgive. The best discipline that we can
put upon ourselves in all of this world is the discipline
of forgiveness. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2, if you would. Join me in verse 5, but if any
have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that
I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this
punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrarywise
ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps
such one should be swallowed up over much sorrow. This is
what I'm talking about in forgiveness. We come to a brother or a sister
and we treat them with harshness towards what they do. We forget
we have a log in our own eye. Before we start telling a brother
or sister about how they should remove the log out of their eyes,
let's take it out of our own eye first. the harshness might swallow up
and overcome them with sorrow. Wherefore, in verse 8, I beseech
you that you would confirm your love toward him. For to this
end also did I write that I might know the proof of you, whether
you be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive anything,
I forgive also. For if I forgave anything, to
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ. Let Satan should get an advantage
of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Furthermore,
when I came to Troas to preach Christ's Gospel, and a door was
opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother, but take my leave of them. I
went from this into Macedonia. Now thanks be to God, which always
causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor
of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and them that
perish." I'll close with this. A prayer that I thought about
after I read that very verse. Lord, help me to confirm my love
to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us, O Lord, of all
glory to forgive as you have forgiven us. Amen. Stand with me if you would.