Brethren, if you will, let's
open to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. I'll try
to stay... I have a pretty good text this
morning. I'll try to stay right in Matthew
and just read the other scriptures to you. But I want to start with
a story. It's pretty common. where I'm from, Samuel Holmes
and Lucian Young in the state of Kentucky back in the 1800s.
And Samuel Holmes murdered someone down in Lancaster County. That's
where brother Maurice Montgomery was from. And they had a witness. The judge, Olsey, convicted him
and they sent him to Frankfurt Prison. And his friend, Lucian
Young, was very widely known. He was a hero as a tugboat had
capsized there on Ohio River and he pulled a bunch of people
out of that water and the state legislator had recognized him,
gave him an award, praised him and honored him. And so he went
to Governor Blackburn and he said, this is my friend. You remember all the things I
good that I did, how the state just honored me last year and
I have a good name, I have a good reputation, this is my friend.
Grant him a pardon because of me. And the governor said, because
of you, because what you've done to this state that we owe you,
and how proud we are of you, is the only reason I'll write
a pardon to your friend, Samuel Holmes. Lucian went to that prison,
and he walked down the hallway, jail cell, the cage he's in.
And he said, Sam, he said, if you were to get out of here today,
what's the first thing you'd do? He said, I'd go straight
to Lancaster County. I'd look at Judge Olsey, he said,
and I'd kill him. He said, then I'd find the witnesses
that are against me. Those men that stood up and testified
and told what murder I'd committed, and I'd kill them. It's the first
thing I'd do if I was to get out of here. I ain't got no hope
of getting out of here, but if I could, that's what I'd do. Lucian stood
up, walked out of that prison, pulled a pardon out of his pocket,
and tore it up and threw it on the ground. That'd be sobering, wouldn't
it? Because it's been granted, repentance wasn't given to Samuel
Holmes. He had no remorse over what he
did, just anger, just spite. No matter what had changed with
the law, the slate was wiped clean. The heart hadn't changed. Nothing had changed. And we recently
looked through 1 John. We saw a lot of things in 1 John.
But to believe Christ, to love the brethren, that's a proof
of a child of God. And it says those that say that
they love God, oh, I love Him. I know God, I love Him. But He
loves not His brethren. The love of God's not in them.
If you had true love for God that He gives, you would love
Christ in those that are your brothers and sisters. And you
don't know who that is, so we have compassion on all men, don't
we? There was a time I didn't look
like a brother, I didn't act like a brother, and didn't love
the Lord. How was I treated? Kindness and compassion. Let's
read this parable Here in Matthew 18, I hope we can see a few things.
Let's begin in verse 21. Matthew 18, 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 Jesus said unto
him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
Now, he's not talking about 490. You've got to keep track and
then you can let them go. He's saying that's an unlimited
amount. That's a perfect amount. Verse
23, 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
10,000 talents. 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. The servant therefore
fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with
me and I will pay thee all. And the Lord of that 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,
just pennies. And he laid his hands on him
and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet and besought 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 then
his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry,
and 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 desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had 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 his brother their trespasses. Now there in chapter 18, verse
15 through 17, Christ was given instruction on how to deal with
a brother or sister that's trespassed against us, someone that's in
great error. It says you speak to them in person. You talk to
them one-on-one. And if that rebuke, if that correction
isn't heeded, you take two or three with you, and you speak
to them in private. And if that's not heeded, If
that doesn't do it, then you bring him before the church and
the church speaks to him. And if that's not heeded, then
you cast him out. You treat him as a heathen and
a publican. The Lord said to the Pharisee that went up, don't
even pray for him. Let him go. This is a spiritual example of
how the Lord uses means to draw one of his elect to himself.
Sometimes it's one-on-one. Sometimes there are just two
or three speaking with us. And sometimes they come into a fellowship
like this, and the whole church is there. And his whole church,
where they go throughout this country, if they're in New Caney,
Texas, or they're in Taylor, Arkansas, or here, wherever his
church is, his local assembly, the message is the same. And
in the mouth of all those witnesses, they say, no, leave them alone. Spiritually, that's true. That's
a picture to us. But practically, that's also an application for
us, isn't it? There's wisdom in that. Because we treat our
brethren as the Lord treats us. That's how when we walk in shoe
leather in this world tomorrow morning on a Monday, how do we
treat the people in this world? We treat them as the Lord treats
us. This is a spiritual example for
us. And the Lord gave that, and Peter
heard him, And the Lord kept speaking for a couple more paragraphs,
didn't he? But Peter stopped there. That's where he ended. So he had a question for our
Lord. And he's asking this question because he grew up under the
law. That's all he knew. He was used
to having limits. Everything had to have rules.
There's guidelines somewhere. What am I supposed to do? If
I'm going to love, how do I do love? If I'm to forgive, how
do I do forgiveness? What's the limits? And where
can I quit doing it? What's the minimum I can get
by with? What's the minimum I must do? There in verse 21. Then came
Peter to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Until seven times. He's asking
if that erring brother comes to me, they've trespassed against
me, they've offended me, and I confront them, and they ask
for forgiveness. They repent. Brother, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Oh,
I shouldn't have said that. I don't know what I was thinking.
Forgive me. Forgive me. If He comes to me and does that,
how often do I need to let this happen before I can be done with
Him? Oh, forgive me. Alright, I forgive
you this time. Now, when can I get rid of Him? And Jesus saith
unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
seventy times seven. He told us that also there in
Luke 17. He said, Take heed to yourselves.
If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent,
forgive him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day and seven times a day, turn again to thee,
and saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. This has been consistent. We've received a perfect forgiveness
in Christ. And those souls that He made
to know this, we are forgiving as Christ is forgiving. When
we truly see love, we truly see mercy, we truly see graciousness,
we act as we're taught. We act like our Father, because
that's who we learned it from. He's truly done a work in us.
It's not the action of forgiving that we're going to see today,
but it's the heart of forgiveness. It's the attitude that we have
when we forgive. Our Lord looks on the heart,
doesn't He? It doesn't matter if I can say with mouth, I forgive
you through gritted teeth. You don't feel too forgiven,
do you? The Lord looks on the heart, in our closet where He
meets us. David said, the fool had said,
in his heart, no God. It'd be a real fool to say that
out loud, wouldn't it? That's what we say inside. Nobody
else is listening. Our Master said, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. What we truly have in our hearts
is what comes out of us. Paul told us in Ephesians, let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, evil speaking,
be put away from you with all malice. With all malice, with
intensity, put these things away. And be ye kind one to another,
tender hearted. Tender hearted, forgiving one
another even as God for Christ's sake. The cause of Christ. hath forgiven you." That's where
our forgiveness lies. There's nobody else on this earth
but me. Forgiveness from the Father lies in Christ. If I'm
to be forgiven, it lies in Christ. If I happen to be surrounded
by billions of people, forgiveness found in the Father is only found
in Christ. That new heart believers are
given, it's a tender heart. It's a soft heart. Not an old
stony heart. It's tender. It's soft. That one is long-suffering. It's gracious. It's merciful.
It's forgiving. Paul also told us there in Colossians
3, "...forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If
any man have a quarrel against thee, even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye." That's the only way we can know to forgive,
if we've experienced forgiveness. Our attitude and actions are
a reflection of our relationship with God. With the mouth, we
can say whatever we want to say. We can say doctrines, but the
relationship we have with the Lord reflects in our attitude
towards other people and how we walk in this world. If we've
been shown love, we know how to love. If the Lord's been gracious
to us, Now we know what true graciousness is. Have you ever
heard somebody say they don't deserve mercy? You ever felt
that way? I don't deserve mercy. Isn't
that what mercy is? It's not getting what you deserve. You don't deserve it. That's
the idea. That's what mercy is. It's easy to be merciful to someone
if the Lord's been merciful to me. In a long-suffering way, in a
gracious, loving way, in a merciful attitude, Christ teaches this
effectually to Peter here. And that's how He teaches us,
you and I today. He says there in Matthew 18.
Therefore, here's how you forgive Peter, 70 times 7. is the kingdom of heaven likened
unto a certain king which would take account of his servants."
Now I've had people say, well now it says this in that parable
and if you really know that, it says it's likened. Nine times
in Matthew our master speaks and he says the kingdom of heaven
is likened unto this and he gives us a parable. He shows it. It's
not a be all end all. It's putting one of the aspects
of the Lord's kingdom in a way that poor sinners can understand.
He deals with us where we are, something we can understand,
something we can comprehend. And in this case, children of God
hear this parable and we liken it. We liken it to the forgiveness
and mercy we experience from God. That's our relationship
to this parable. That's where the Lord hits us
where we live. We relate this to our own experience. We can
see our salvation and the attitude, the motive of our hearts, and
relate it to this story. So there's a certain king and
he's taken account of all his servants. This is king over all. That king, we don't have much
of a king in our day, but king's on all the land. They own all
the property, and if you have cows and they have a calf, he
owns that calf. You may have it, but a sovereign
almighty king owns everything underneath him, worldly. Our
heavenly father, the cattle on a thousand hills are his. He
owns everything here, everything we breathe, our lives, everything
he gave to us. He's Lord over all, and he's
taken account I have to touch on this. If he accounts a debt
to somebody, if he said, well, you owe 10,000 talents, now you
owe 10,000 talents. No, you owe 10,000 talents, and
he looks in the accounting ledger, and he says, that's right. He
calls it what he sees. He calls it as is. He imputes
that debt to his people if there's debt there. That's what it is. He imputes it, he reckons it,
and he takes account of what is already there. Now this day
is coming for each and every one of us. Every person in this
room, every person that will listen to this in the future,
every person in this world. There's a day of judgment coming.
Either whenever Christ returns or that appointed time that we
each have to leave this world. Paul wrote to us, he said, "...we
must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad, knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord." That's terrible. Terrifying to someone, isn't
it? The good ain't going to outweigh the bad on that scale of justice.
And if you've got 51% good, you're going to be okay. You're going
to be measured against Christ in the day of judgment. And if
you are found lacking, you'll be found lacking forever. That
should be terrifying to every one of us. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That's what I'm doing this
morning. Oh, I wish I could persuade men.
But we are made manifest unto God, and our trust also are made
manifest to your consciences. The Lord's Word is effectual.
The only hope we have in this great judgment, the accounting
of our debt, is to be found in Christ, to have His righteousness
imputed to us. That means it's already given
to us, and that's what the Lord sees when we show up, to be found
in Him. And when this judgment begins,
truth's revealed. Remember verse 24. And when he
begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000
talents." Now this is you and me. This is every child of Adam
that's ever walked the earth. In our flesh, in our old man,
in the accounting of the King of Glory, we've amassed a debt
that cannot be paid. Now there's a lot of theological
arguments, debate, over how much 10,000 talents is. It's a whole
bunch. That's how much it is. I think
it's 33 kilograms per talent, and then you times that by how
much gold or silver is nowadays. But I got to thinking, if somebody
came to you, if I came to you, Cass, and I said, you owe $20
million, or we're going to kill you, put you in prison, take
all your family and everything, it might as well be $200 million. I can't pay it just the same.
It's like taking a loan out without interest. We'll give you a million.
If you make $50,000 a year and you take a $10 million loan out,
all ain't no interest. Don't matter if there's interest
or not, you ain't paying it back. An insurmountable debt, something
we would never be able to pay back. 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. All things are the king's. And
as his sovereign decrees come out, it's perfect. And he does as he sees fit. What
he does is right. And everything that you and I
think are ours. ourselves, our families, all
we possess, all of our good works, all of our future good works,
anything. If it was all sold, he owned
it anyway, but if it was all sold, it wouldn't add up to one
payment against all that debt. If it was a 200,000 years worth
of salary to pay this debt back, Everything you've got and everything
you ever will have wouldn't make half payment just for one month. You know, that's what the law
does. We see the Lord's law, how perfect it is, what it requires. It accounts what we really are.
We look against his perfect law and it says, you owe holiness.
You owe perfection to be in my sight. All of our sin debt, all
that we owe, it's exposed. That's what the law does for
us. It's a schoolmaster that brings us to Christ, brings us
all the way to his feet. It's an insurmountable debt to
us, but there's mercy found there in Christ. Christ is our only
payment. He fulfilled the law perfectly
in obedience. Walked this earth, took on human
flesh, just like you and me, because that's what was required.
And from conception, he went into the grave, he lived in absolute
perfection and holiness. And the whole time, he looked
to his Heavenly Father with a perfect attitude. It was a moral obligation. People call that the moral law.
He had to be obedient and willing and faithful to his Father the
whole time, just as we are required. But he did it. He completed it. And he was willing. I've said that to you, I think,
every message for two months. I can't get over it. He was willing
to do that for his people, willing to honor his father for a worm
like me. The person and work of Christ,
our Lord, is the only person and the only works that the father
is pleased in. He said, this is my son and whom
I'm well pleased. It's the only way. When God,
the Holy Spirit, comes to His people and He convicts us of
sin, of what we are, what debt we are, we have no ability to
pay that sovereign, holy Lord of all. And then the Spirit convicts
us of Christ's righteousness. He is that payment. He's that
propitiation. He's that satisfactory, acceptable
blood sacrifice that the Father provided of Himself. I'll provide
myself a land." That righteousness that's required, it is Christ. It's not me, it's Him. And then
it convicts us of judgment that every bit of that was successful.
He didn't try. He didn't offer. He came to save
a people and they're saved. As Barnum said, they're plum
saved. Saved to the uttermost. Then and only then When God the
Holy Spirit comes to His child through the preaching of the
Word, we're convicted of our sin. We see our sin debt in front
of that law. We're convicted of Christ's righteousness.
The only one that ever walked this earth that was righteous.
And we're convicted that judgment's been satisfied. All the work
is done. Then and only then can we truly
beg for mercy. Now we have someone to beg mercy
to, don't we? We have a mediator. We have an
intercessor for us. It says there in verse 26, Matthew
18, 26. The servant therefore fell down
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all. He's begging for mercy with patience.
But he says, and I'll pay thee all. That's the foolishness of
our sin nature. We think we can pay. But this
servant must have had some knowledge of this king, of how merciful
he was. how willing he was to forgive.
Verse 27, then the Lord of the servant was moved with compassion
and loosed him and forgave him the debt. That's a story of the
salvation of cross sheep, isn't it? Is that what you believe? Is that what happened to you?
You were made aware of this accounting of debt. A tally was taken and
it was unpayable. And so we fell down and begged
for mercy. And what did we find? Abundant
mercy. That's us, isn't it? That's the
Lord's people. Preaching to Peter and the other
disciples in perfect wisdom, Christ our Lord grabs our attention
right off the bat. It's relatable to us. He gets
ahold of Peter right then. And Peter's listening. I'm with
you so far. I know exactly what you're talking
about. I'm nothing but dead. And the King is the only one
that can forgive this dead, that can address it, that can justify
me. I'm with you. Know just what you're talking
about. What we're going to see now is if that truly was a heart
work in this parable, in this unforgiving servant. Did the
debtor just dodge a bullet in the flesh? All your debt's forgiven. Whew, boy, I missed that one.
But was there a saving work done inside of that person, in the
inward man? We come here and we listen about
Christ's person and His work, what He accomplished in the salvation
of His people. Don is our substitute. We hear
these doctrines of grace, these truths of our Master. But are
we changed when we hear that? Is there a work done? Do I say,
oh, the Lord's forgiven me all my debt. And do I walk out that
door and go down to the gas station and grab that gas tenant by the
throat? You're not being fair to me.
Tuesday's coming. Oh. Might be the last time we
get to see each other for a while. I don't know what's going to happen. But the
Lord puts kings in place and He removes kings, doesn't He?
That sounds like His business. Do I get mad about it? I sure
do. Should I? Absolutely not. The Lord will
take care of that. And He brings us to that. He
reminds us of that. Do we hear the gospel and is
our pure minds stirred up when we have to deal with someone
that's trespassed against us? Are we reminded? That's what
the Lord does to His children. Are we reminded of all the offenses
that someone could commit against me? that a person or group of
people, government could do against me, all those offenses, it is
far less offensive as I have been to the holy God. I owe him 10,000 talents. The
worst you could ever do to me is one pence. Ain't that true? Does he stir us up and bring
us back to remember that? A child of God will err. We're
going to have disagreements. We're going to be pouty, we're
going to get upset, and we're going to take our ball and go
home, or try to, like Peter, we're going to try to go back
to fishing. That's going to happen. But the Lord will chasten the
heart to His children. And how is He going to do that?
Well, my older brothers will come with me. He does work in
the heart. Brings us into remembrance of
Him, what He's accomplished for us. Now what did this servant
do? Is that what happened? He was forgiven much, and he
was mindful of that, remembered that, and he was gracious and
forgiving to everybody else around him. Look here in verse 28. But
the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants,
this is an equal, this is a peer, which owed him a hundred pence.
They said it might be ten dollars. And he laid hands on him and
took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. Now, Peter's hearing this. You that the Lord's called, done
a work in, you're hearing this. And we hear this parable, and
boy, that's me. I know exactly what they did.
Now, hold on a second. This ain't right, is it? It's
contrasting. And what happened with us? If
the Lord's been gracious, merciful, and loving to us, our new man's
going to be the same. We know better than that, don't
we? Something's amiss in verse 29. And his fellow servant fell
down at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with
me and I will pay thee all. Now that's the same words that
this other servant said in verse 26, wasn't it? Have patience
with me and I'll pay thee all. Have you ever had a gotcha moment?
a lot of parents have, and you say something, and it works for
you, and then somebody says the exact same thing to you a day
or two later, and you're like, oh, why did it hit you? Don't mind everything you just
went through. Here, this servant wasn't brought into remembrance
of the repentance he was given, of the pleading for mercy that
he has. Here's a fellow servant, another
sinner just like he is, saying the same words that he said. And what did he do? Verse 30,
and he would not, but went and cast him in prison till he should
pay the debt. He put him in prison. I remember
reading about a baseball player I was a big fan of, because he's
in prison right up the road from us. And I think at the time,
in the 90s, he made $3 a day. And they fined him, I think,
$100,000 or something. And I thought, you know how long he's going
to have to stay in that prison? I was a little fellow. He's going
to have to stay in that prison a long time to pay off that.
And if you've got to buy $3 worth of food a day, you ain't going
to make it, are you? But that's what this unforgiving
servant went to his fellow servant, another servant just like him,
another sinner just like he was. He was forgiven so much, and
he grabbed him by the throat over pennies, over nothing. If the Lord freed us from the
curse of the law, Did we put our brethren back under the law
we were freed of? He's freed us from prison. Did we go to
our brethren and say, what you're doing is not right? You better
start keeping the Sabbath. You better stop cussing. You better stop drinking. You
better clean up, son. Put them right back under the
law? No. Think on that. Verse 31. So when his fellow
servants saw what was done, They were very sorry and came
and told unto their Lord all that was done. That's what happens
to us. We're seen. Our actions are seen. We don't preach the message every
time we go out and live in this world, but how we act and how
we interact with these people, it reflects what our heart is. Henry used to say that, the people
may not know why the Lord was spit on, but they'll know why
we spit on them. May not know why he was slain,
why he was crucified, but they'll know why we're picking on them,
or we're crucifying them. But that was seen. Verse 32,
Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou
desirest me. Shust not thou have had compassion
on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? Don't you
remember how I was patient to you, merciful to you, That's
how you should have had compassion on your brother. You believe
me when I have mercy on you. Did you love your brother? And
the Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he
should pay all that was due him. Now if the Lord only forgave
our debt. He wiped the slate clean. All the debt was gone.
But He did not give us a holy nature like He is holy. We would fall every time. We
would have a great cause to worry. I would worry. Because how fast,
if the unpayable debt was wiped from my account, how fast I could
rack it back up again. Moments later. How long would
it take me to pay all this debt due from sin? An eternity. An eternity. That's why hell
is an eternity. That's cause for worry for someone.
If all the Lord did was just wipe the slate clean. But what
did the Lord tell Isaiah? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.
That means talk to their hearts. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received
in the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Saying from his
wounded side which flow, be of sin the double cure. Save from
wrath and make me pure. The Lord didn't just take away
our sin and His broken body. He washed us in His blood. We're
given His robe of righteousness. We're given His holiness. And it says, So likewise shall
my heavenly Father do also unto you, for if ye from your hearts,
in the heart, forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.
Let's see how this plays out. Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and we'll close. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
11. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord we persuade men, knowing this judgment's coming. But we are manifest unto God,
we told the truth, glorified the Lord, and I trust also are
manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God. Or whether we be sober, it is
for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then all were dead. The love of Christ is what
rules and constrains our hearts. Not another man and not what
somebody else is not doing. Because we're all the same. We're
all just a bunch of sinners in need of grace. And that he died
for all, that they which should live not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.
We're brought into remembrance of him. Wherefore, henceforth
now, we know no man after the flesh. That's what Paul told
us before. He said, I want to know nothing
among you, saved Jesus Christ. I don't want to know your flesh.
I did some bad stuff. I don't want to hear it. Me too.
Tell me about Christ who saved you. Yea, though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know Him no more."
This flesh is going to perish. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That's the effectual work of
the Lord. He forgives His people the unpayable
debt that we have amassed, we own. He owned it for us. took
it to that cross of Calvary, satisfied God's holy justice,
being forsaken of God for His people. And in that, we're given
His robe of righteousness, given His holy nature, His incorruptible
seeds planted in us. And if we're brought into remembrance
of that, and if we're made holy as He was holy, looking to our
Father, looking to our Savior all the time, all of a sudden,
the offenses of our brethren ain't that offensive, are they?
And we say, I don't want to know anything among you. This flesh
is dead to me. I'm dead to the world. It's dead
to me. Tell me about the Savior. Now we've got something to talk
about, don't we? It's profitable. I pray the Lord keeps us that
way. Amen. Let's pray together.