to Matthew chapter 18 and while you're turning I've
got several announcements to make before I read the scripture
and pray. Remember dinner next Sunday then
we're gonna have chicken from from the state park so you bring
whatever goes with chicken and look forward to that next week
and Debbie's sister Pam had a hip replacement here a while back,
and it's really been bothering her here lately. She's got to
go to the doctor tomorrow. She heard a pop the other day,
and I hope that they can fix that for her because it's awful
to be in pain. And Herman went to the hospital
last Wednesday afternoon down in Murfreesboro in the VA. His
brother Carl took him down, and he had a heart arrhythmia. They said it was minor, and they're
trying to do that. But the cough that he's had the
last couple of weeks was fluid around his heart. So he's still
down there. Friday, he was fine. He's in
a room by himself. And the weekend shift down there,
I won't answer the phone. And in the morning, you'll be
able to call him. I'll be able to call him and
find out, get to talk to him. But he's doing fine, probably
get to come home Monday. And then last but not least,
Shirley's dad died yesterday afternoon. And all the kids was
with him. And he took a turn real quick. And she got to talk to him a
little bit yesterday afternoon on the phone. And everyone was
with him. And she was really close to her
dad. And she worked with him in his shop. And so it's been
very hard on her. And we're heading up that way
tomorrow. Quite a while ago to take care
of the services for him. So I'm gonna be taking care of
the services for him up there. Lord willing, we'll leave tomorrow
and be back Friday, Friday evening. But we're all head that way. Okay, let's read here in Matthew. I wanna start reading in verse
21 and read down through verse 35. Then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven like unto a certain king which
would take account of his service. And when he had begun to reckon,
One was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents,
but forasmuch 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. The servant therefore fell down,
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I
will pay thee all. Then 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, and he laid hands on him,
and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. 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 when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very
sorry, and came and told unto the Lord all that was done. Then
his Lord, after they had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest thou not 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 you from your hearts forgive not
everyone his brethren their trespasses. Look with me back here then in
Matthew 18. I want to talk about forgiveness
this morning. Forgiveness. Peter asked the
Lord Jesus Christ, Lord how oft, in verse 21, how oft shall my
brother sin against me and I forgive him? How oft? You know to forgive
someone and forgiveness is to dismiss It's to release, it's
to leave or abandon what you might hold against them. Forgiveness
means to restore someone to their original condition. Restore someone
to their original condition. Did not God in His sovereign
mercy and abundant grace restore us from an awful condition that
we were in? Our original condition was sin,
not just sinners, sin. And we were sinners because we
were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. And that's our condition,
lost without God, lost without Christ, without hope in this
world. And God in His blessed sovereign mercy took us from
that condition and restored us to that condition as if we had
never sinned, took all our sin away. The scripture says that
He put them in a bag thrown him in the sea, cast him behind his
back, sent him as far as the east is from the west, blotted
him out as a thick cloud. And David asked this question,
Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who in the world
would be able to stand? And anybody that's got any sense
at all would have to back up and say, well, I can't stand.
I can't stand. Who shall ascend into the holy
hill of the Lord? Who shall stand and abide in
the presence of the Lord? He that hath clean hands? He
that hath a pure heart? He that's not lifted his soul
up to vanity? Well, I can't go, but there's
one who did go, who had holy hands, had a pure heart, never
lifted his soul up to vanity. And so when David said, Lord,
if thou shouldest mark iniquity, who would be able to stand? You
know what he said the next verse? But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. And he said, and then the next
line says this, and there is plenteous redemption with thee. Plenteous, you know, that's what
the gospel starts with the gospel starts with forgiveness That's
why we preach the gospel for is that me and may understand
that God will forgive sin And he forgives it on the basis of
what Christ did not because man deserves it not because man merits
it. If God ever forgives a man's
sin, it's because Christ paid for that sin. And the gospel
starts out telling men how sin is forgiven and how that God
Himself will take it. And then not only did He say
it, forgive it, but then He said, I'll never remember them against
them ever again. And that's what the gospel starts
with. That's the whole thing about the gospel is our forgiveness.
David said, Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven, whose
iniquities are covered. Covered with what? Covered with
the blood, washed away with the blood, under the mercy seat.
And so we start out, the gospel starts out with this business
about forgiven. Colossians 1.13, I believe, says
this. You hath he quickened who were
dead in sins, having forgiven you all your trespasses. How many of you reckon that is?
Have any of you all ever seen a trespassing, no trespassing
sign on a piece of property and go anyway, go ahead and cross
over the fence anyway? Have any of y'all ever done that?
I've done that more times than you can count. I've done that
I don't know how many times well and that's what that's what God
says that we do with his law he said he but he said he won't
hold our trespasses all the boundaries he's got no trespass don't go
past this here because if you do that's sin and I'll punish
you for your sin and I'll hold it against you well we trespass
and trespass and then the scripture says having forgiven you all
your trespasses Every time you cross the line God said I have
forgiven you every single one of them That's that's how the
gospel starts. That's how the gospel starts
And I know this I know this without a shadow of a doubt That person
that soul that's been forgiven of sin that soul that's been
restored back to the condition of having not sinned The sin
has been dismissed, has been released from the penalty of
it. The case against him has been dismissed before God. He's been just thrown away as
if it did not happen. And I say, I say that forgiveness,
forgiveness is the basic quality of a believer. A believer, it
is easy for him to forgive. It's as easy for him to forget,
it's as easy for him to forgive what people do to them and how
they treat them as it is for water to run down him. That's
a basic quality of being a believer. Having been forgiven, you cannot
help but forgive. Having been loved, you cannot
help but love. And without forgiveness, without
forgiveness, We wouldn't have any Christians.
We wouldn't have believers. We wouldn't have Christianity.
Without God having forgiven us, we couldn't meet here this morning.
And without us forgiving one another of slights and things
like that, we couldn't meet here this morning. He said, well,
the offenses must come. They're going to come. But that's
just such a basic quality. And I'll tell you what, without
forgiveness, we wouldn't have justification. And we'd all be
without hope and under just condemnation without forgiveness. And that'd
be an awful state to be in, wouldn't it? But I want to look at this
business of forgiveness. Look down here in verse 15, what
our Lord gives a simple, important way to reconcile disputes. He
said in verse 15, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against
thee, there's that word trespass against. Go and tell him his
fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast
gained thy brother. When you say, forgive me, when
you say, forgive me, it ought to be just like that, gone. And
if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word be established. And so our Lord Jesus tells us
here about forgiveness. And now back in verse 21 here,
look what Peter said. Our Lord said that. He said,
if you know, if your brother trespass against you, tell him.
And then he said, Peter had a problem with this, with this simple twist
question of forgiveness. And so he questioned his master
for understanding. Then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive
him? Seven times. He said, how long will I have
to put up with somebody that sins against me? You know, there's
got to be a stopping point. There's got to be a quitting
point. There's got to be a place where you forget it. When they
act in such a certain way that you just, you know, forgive them
seven times. Ain't that enough? What if God done us that way?
And that's what Peter said. Oh, listen. There's got to be
a place where you don't have to deal with this after a while.
And that's what he's talking about. He had a problem with
it. And Peter missed the whole point that our Lord Jesus Christ
was talking about. The very question revealed that
he asked, revealed that he didn't know what forgiveness was and
what it meant. Am I just supposed to forgive
a fellow seven times? Now he knew, he knew he had to
forgive his brother. He knew that. He understood that. He knew that he wasn't supposed
to hold a grudge and to restore him to fellowship. But how many
times do I have to do this? How many times do I have to do
this? There's got to be a, you know, and if forgiveness And
this is what Simon Peter's at, he said, what he's saying is,
you know, after seven times, I'm gonna store in my mind how
many times they do it, and I'm not, you know, there's gotta
be a time that I'm not gonna say that anymore. And if forgiveness
ain't real, it's to be stored in the memory, if forgiveness
not real. And that's why Simon Peter said,
you know, and I've heard people say this. Oh, I couldn't tell
you how many times I've heard people say that. I can forgive,
but I just can't forget. Well, that means that you ain't
forgiven. If you ain't forgiven. Now, does God hold our sins in
his memory? What did God say about our sins?
He said that He wouldn't even remember Megistus again. And
you know, and our Lord said, everyone that cometh to Me, He
said, there's nothing they'll ever do that'll cost Me to cast
them out. And that's why Simon Peter said
here, after seven times, said, I'm done. And if our Lord treated
us that way, there wouldn't be a soul in this building this
morning. There wouldn't be a person in this building this morning.
And so He goes on and He said, surely, surely, And that's what
he said, and I'll tell you, I'll forgive him seven times, and
I'll wait and just see how they do, whether I'll forgive him
again or not. And he said, surely seven times is enough. That's
what Simon Peter's saying. Well, ain't Peter being real
good, and ain't Peter being real gracious to forgive someone seven
times? Boy, that's good and gracious.
That's a good, gracious thing to do. Have you ever felt that
way, that some got more chances than they deserved? You know,
I tell you, even with my children, I live in hope. I live in hope
of my children. I may be gone before they ever
be believers, but I live in hope that one of these days God, in
his sovereign mercy, will cross their path and forgive them,
and forgive them. But have you ever felt that someone
got more chances than they deserved? Well, look what our Lord answers
Simon Peter in verse 22. Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times. Oh no, seven times, that's nothing.
But, and he multiplies it by 10. He multiplies 7 times 10.
And then multiplies 7 again. Until 7 times, no, no, no Simon
Peter. Until 70 times 7. He uses a definite number to
teach an indefinite amount of time. An indefinite amount of
time. And oh my. What our Lord is saying to Simon
Peter, there's no limit. There's no limit. No limit to
how often you forgive someone. No limit. No limit. No limit
at all. If a person is keeping track
of the number of times that they forgive somebody or they need
forgiveness, then they ain't forgiving at all. They're not
forgiving at all. And this is teaching us that
man and God are just, that we're not like God at all. But God
teach us to this business of this right here. Does God keep
a record on us? Does God keep a record on us?
I remember reading about Martin Luther. He's, you know, he was,
God used him mightily. He said he had a dream. And Satan
came to him and took all of his sins and rolled out a great old
big scroll, great old big scroll as far as you could see. And
all of his sins on that scroll said, looky here, Martin Luther,
look at all your sins. And Martin Luther said, yes,
yes, yes, yes, I did every one of them and more. But he said,
look at the bottom of the list, signed in blood, signed with
the blood of the Lamb of God, all my sins are gone. And that's
what happens, you know, our sins are gone. And that's what our
Lord's teaching us here. When a brother or somebody sins
against you, they're gone. You say, they're gone. You know,
you see children playing. I see little old children playing,
especially little girls. Little girls are the worst in
the world. You get three or four girls together, and they're running
off, saying, oh, so-and-so, this teacher's paying more attention
to her than she is me, and so-and-so didn't say this to me, and that
to me, and this, that, the next thing you know, they're just,
you know, holding things against one another. And then after a
while, it's all gone. They're all sitting down playing jacks or
playing dots. They get over it that quick.
And that's what our Lord's teaching us, ain't she? And we're not
children. Oh, does God keep a record on
us? I know, brethren, we must do
this. God can enable us. And I know,
and listen, if you've got hurts, if your feelings are hurt or
you've had injuries, take them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Take
them to Him. And this parable teaches us and
illustrates forgiveness. And therefore, beloved, if we
understand why we ought to forgive and what forgiveness is sin,
we would never ask how often. How often? How often? Have you ever asked God how often
he's going to do this for you? In our Lord's illustration of
forgiveness, look what he said here in verse 23. Therefore is
the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would
take account of his servants. He's got servants, and he sat
down one day and said, I'm going to take account of them. I'm
going to go through my books. I'm going to go through my books.
I'm going to go through my records. I'm going to take account of
my servants, where they're at, what they do, what they owe.
And so he begins to take account. And when he had begun to reckon,
reckon up these different accounts, he said, one was brought unto
him which owed him 10,000 talents. You know how much 10,000, that's
silver now, 10,000 talents. You know what, the prices of
silver right now, that's about right at around $10 million.
That's the most expensive debt you could have. 10,000 talents,
that would be right at like $10 million today in today's silver
market. If you had a Ten talents of silver
you could go and sell it today and come home with ten million
dollars now That's how much this man owed this this king And okay,
but but for as much as he had not to pay. Oh My that's the
situation. That's the situation. He didn't
have nothing to pay. He didn't have nothing to pay and His Lord
commanded him to be sold And oh, his debt was immense. And
he didn't think about it until the king called him to give an
account. And that's what happens to us. We don't think we owe
anything until the king calls and gives me an account. And
we say, I ain't got nothing. What am I going to pay with?
And look what happens to him. He said, sell all of his family
and his wife and his children until the payment be made. And
our sins, beloved, are as talents. They're all great, and this is
the reason why, because they're against God. Men like to think
in terms of great sins and small sins, but there's no such thing. Sin is sin. I know the way men
judge a sin is, you know, this sin here is greater than this
one. I'll tell you what, this sin here is greater than that
one. But I'll tell you what, if God ever teach you what sin
is, you know who would be the greatest sinner there is? You
will. You will. I read a thing that a man wrote
yesterday, he said, Oh, self-righteousness, I abhor self-righteousness. And
you know where I abhor that more than any place else? In me. And
a man that don't need forgiveness, he's self-righteous. And a man
who won't forgive is self-righteousness. And our Lord Jesus Christ, that's
what they say, my sins are yours. Has anybody here got greater
sins than anybody else? And our Lord Jesus Christ, I
tell you what, if He gave an account of us today, we'd owe
a lot more than this man owed. I mean, you think about from
the day you was born, and you have come out of your mother's
womb, you come out of your mother's womb speaking lies, you come
out of your mother's womb as a dead dog sinner with your hands
against God. And we lived our lives like that
until God himself called to give us an account. And beloved, when
we gave it to him, he said, I ain't got nothing to pay. But oh, all
sin is treason, all sin's great. The account may be small, but
it's a great sin. It's just like a baby rattlesnake.
How do you know you'll get scared to death if your rattlesnake
got long? 18, 20 rattlers on it, oh my goodness, that'd scare
you to death. But that little old baby rattler about that long,
just come out from under the log, come out of his mama's belly,
that little old fella about that long, he's just as deadly as
his daddy. And that's the way sin is. It may be just a little rattlesnake,
but it's deadly. And oh my, Dow Davis says, my
sins are more than the hairs on my head. How about you? How
about me? Can you count up your debt of
sin? Do you know how many times you
committed sin against God? And then look what the king had
the right to do. And this is his legal right.
This is what the law does. But 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 in payment to be made. This
is the way when debts aren't paid, you lose everything. This
man lost everything. It sounds harsh, it sounds cruel,
it sounds brutal, but it's the law. The law know nothing about
mercy. Sell him as a slave. Sell him
as a slave. Take his whole family. He's got
a debt. That makes his family in debt.
Just take the whole family and be shed of them. Just be shed
of them. He won't bring enough to even
begin to pay the debt. Neither will his wife and his
children. They won't be able to begin to pay the debt. And
oh, but justice requires it. But justice requires it. And
look what this debtor did. Look what this man did that owed
all this money, that owed this, and all our sins against God.
Oh my soul, how many are there? The servant there fell down,
therefore fell down, got on his knees. And that word worship
there, that means that he showed great respect to him. He didn't
actually worship him like we'd worship the Lord. Showed great,
great respect to him. And look what he said. He said,
And this is where he really messed up. Now you think about this.
Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay you. I'll pay you every
bit of it. I don't know where I'll get $10
million. I don't know where I'm going to get the money. I don't
know how I'm going to pay off my debts. But if you'll just be
patient with me, and that's where he messed up, said, I'll pay
you. And that's where sinners really mess up when they think
they can pay God. Oh, I'd pay God for my sin. I'll
start living right. I'll start doing better. I'll
be a better wife. I'll be a better husband. I'll
be a better brother. I'll be a better sister. I'll
start doing better. Listen, just be patient with
me, and I'll pay you what I owe you. And the very fact that he
thought he could pay, how are we going to pay? Who can pay?
Who can pay? Oh, my. And oh, it was easy for
him to promise. But how long would it take this
penniless bankrupt to raise a million dollars much less than me? Oh, he said more than he could
make good. And that's what men and women
do and sinners do when they think they can pay God. And oh, he
said more than he could make good. This is not the language
of a man before the throne of God. Oh my, I don't promise. Did you ever promise to pay?
Oh my, we don't have nothing to pay with. Brad said this the
other night over there, when we was having supper, he said
this, he said, you know, said, when God, God deals with you,
he said, he shows you that there's absolutely nothing you can do
to save yourself, that you're in the hands of God. He can save
you, but you can't, even after you're saved, there's nothing
you can do to get God to do anything for you. And that's what this
fella says. He said, oh my. He said, oh,
we have, and listen, we ain't got no, we ain't got nothing
to pay. We didn't, I don't promise to
pay. I don't promise to pay now. And oh my, we have nothing to
pay with. We can't make satisfaction with
our debt. All the promises of the future
and all the labors of the future will not pay off one past sin,
it's guilt. If you write today, if you write
today, said, from now on, now I'm going to live and I'm not
going to sin anymore. Who's going to pay for yesterday's
sin? Who's going to pay for yesterday's sin? And that's what this fellow
said, said, I'm going to pay you. Just be patient with me
and I'll pay you. That's not the language of a believer. No,
no. There's only one who could blight
out that handwriting. And that, and that was our Lord
Jesus Christ. And he died to put all the handwriting
that was against us out of the way. You see, this man's prayer
is not the prayer of a man who is penitent, but a petition.
And that king who seems so harsh now is incredibly merciful. Look
what he said in verse 27. Oh, he became so incredibly merciful.
Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, moved
with compassion. He knew that this man couldn't
pay this debt. He knew it. And then He was moved
with compassion, loosed him, let him go free. I'm not gonna
sell you now. I'm not gonna make you as a slave.
Loosed him, and listen to this, forgave him the debt. Oh my, ain't that the way our
Lord is? So incredibly merciful. Oh, the
ways of God. The king knew he couldn't pay
that debt. God knows we can't pay the debt. And he's never
asked us to pay the debt. There's only one person he ever
required to pay the debt and that was his blessed son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only person that he
ever required to pay the debt. That's the only person. And oh
my God, God is so incredibly merciful and gracious and kind
and forgiving. But now look what this fella
does. Shows you that he, he didn't know nothing about forgiveness
either. Look what it says now. He was forgiven, the forgiven
debtor and his debt. But oh, the same servant, look
what happened now in verse 28, that same servant went out. You
would have thought, oh my, I'm so thankful. You would have thanked
him to turn around and kiss that king and kiss that king and fell
around on his neck and just hugged him and kissed him and thanked
him and blessed him and praised him and would have been so, just
went, just overjoyed. But look what he does. But the
same servant went out. and found one of his fellow servants,
found somebody just like himself, somebody just like himself, which
owed 100 pence. In today's money, that's about
$200. One one-hundredth of what this other fellow owed. I mean,
just, you can't even compare what he owed compared to what
the other man owed. Not even close. And most of us,
if we owed $200, we could go pay it off. Most of us, if we
had $200 debt right now, we could come up with $200 and go pay
it. I believe everybody in this building
could do that today. But look what this fellow said.
He owed him 100 pence. And when he laid hands, look
what he did. And he laid hands on him. He wretched and laid
hands on him. And look what it says, got him
by the throat, got him like this here. Got him like that right
there. Pulled him up to him. Got him.
Got him. Now he'd just been forgiven by
the king. Cause the king was moved with
compassion and forgave his debt. And he got a hold of that fella
and grabbed him up by the throat. Pay me what you owe me. Pay me
and pay me now. $200. Oh my. Oh, look at what he promised
and the difference in his conduct, his demeanor on these separate
occasions. And oh my, he grabbed this fella
by the throat, said, pay me what you owe me. Before he was afraid,
begging, pleading, now he's harsh. Now he's demanding. He pleaded
for mercy, pleaded for mercy, now he growls. Pay me what you
owe me. Pay me what you owe me. In other
words, listen. It don't care what God's done
for me. You owe me something. I don't care what God's done
for me. You owe me something. You owe
me some respect. You owe me this. You owe me that. You know, whenever somebody starts
saying, you owe me something, there ain't no forgiveness in
it. That's like this man right here. He said, pay me what you
owe. He just came through the experience that should have made
him tender, made him compassionate, made him understanding, made
him loving, made him forgiving. But what did he do? His heart
is so hard. His memory was that short. He
went out immediately and found this man. And he takes this fellow
servant, the same fellow servant to people just like himself,
a servant. And says the same words a minute
ago, look what this man said to him, and his fellow servant,
verse 29, fell down at his feet and besought him, did exactly
the same thing he did with the king. But he's not in the presence
of the king now, see. He said, have patience with me,
and I will pay thee off. And what he owed him was paltry,
paltry debt. And this man just said this to
himself, and then just immediately he goes out and gets another
fella. And that fella gets down and said, patient, please be
patient with me. Please be patient with me. And
I'll be able to pay you. I will. I'll be able to forgive
you. But look what he does. He exercises
his rights. He uses the law against him.
He wants his pound of flesh, and look what he says in verse
30. And he would not. I'm not going to be patient with
you. I'm not going to forgive you of your debt. I'm not going
to forgive you that little old paltry sum that you owe me. I'm
not going to forgive you. You owe it to me, and I'll tell
you what, I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it. And look
what he said. So what he said, he would not, but he did just
exactly what the king was going to do to him. Now look what he
did. And he would not and cast him into prison till he should
pay the debt. Could you pay a debt if he was
in jail? But that's what he did. He said, what? The very law that
forgave him and showed compassion on him and mercy on him, he turned
around and used it against his fellow servant. Oh, my. He said he wants his rights.
And God's rights are over us, are greater than any rights we
have over one another. But he ignores that. Could a
man treat another man like this? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. Oh, yes. I could use several illustrations,
several illustrations of people that I've dealt with over the
years and people that's dealt with me and dealt with one another.
And I say it without any reservation. That is, it's natural for a believer
to forgive another believer as it is to breathe. It is. It's
just as natural as anything. It's as natural as anything.
Could a man treat another man like this? Yes, he can. Yes,
he can. Have you ever, and have I ever,
pigeonholed an offense, treasure it up, take something somebody's
done, put it up here, somebody slighted you, somebody said something
and it rubbed you the wrong way? It's a penny against $100. How
in the world, how in the world could we, who have been forgiven
us so much, so much, and forgiven every day, not be a forgiving
people? Some will leave, and this is
the way human nature is. And the next person who rubs
them the wrong way or harms them, they'll mark that act and be
unmerciful and that's unforgiving. You see, we all have this human
heart, this awful human heart. And what this man did is all
too natural to all of us. But you know what his sin was?
Having been forgiven, he did not forgive. Having been forgiven,
he did not forgive. Having been forgiven, he did
not forgive. Well, look what our Lord said
happens to people that don't forgive, like this man here.
This man didn't forgive. Look what happens. So when his
fellow servants, verse 31, saw what was done, they were very
sorry. Very, very sorry. You get so sorry, you know, you
get to feeling bad of people that's hard and critical. And
boy, I remember years ago, one time I got into it, and oh, it
was nothing you could say, nothing you could say to make that man
forgive. Nothing I could say or do to make that man forgive
me. And everybody there saw and,
you know, I begged him. Said, please be merciful to me.
Can't you got mercy? He said, no, I ain't got no mercy
for you. And he left. And he was called he was some
kind of a preacher. And he went to his house and
started having meetings in his house. Invite him back, invite
him back, invite him back, ask him for his forgiveness. Won't
come back. Won't come back. And look what
he says here. And they were very sorry and
came and told unto their Lord all that was done. They come,
told the Lord. That's what we do. We come, tell
the Lord. Say, Lord, you know what's going on. Lord, you got
control over our hearts. You got control over our minds.
You got control over us. And Lord, please touch my heart.
Please move in my heart. And that's why they said they
told the Lord everything that was done. Then his Lord, after
that, he had called him, said unto him, this is what he called
him this time. Oh, you wicked servant. I forgave you all your
debt because you desired me to do it. I forgave all of it, all
of it. And the king got angry. And you
know our consciences work quickly over other people's faults rather
than our own. And that king was angry. And
that harsh, unforgiving spirit and attitude of this one whom
he had been merciful and forgiving towards raised his righteous
indignation. And he said in verse 33, shouldest
thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow servant? Even as
I had pity on thee? Shouldn't you have treated him
like I treated you? Shouldn't you have done him just
like I did you? Shouldn't you have been forgiving?
Shouldn't you have been compassionate? Couldn't you have pity on him?
Couldn't you do that? And oh, the unmerciful of this
man was a horrible sin. And oh, God put him right back
on the ground this man wanted to stand on. The man wanted to
be unmerciful, unforgiving. After God had, this king had
forgiven him, and this king put him right back on the ground
he started out with before. Plucked that debt right back
on him. And his lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors,
tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. You
know, there's nothing worse than, than have something on your mind,
something in your heart or something that you just can't let go of.
And it just, it just, it's like a, it's, I heard Tim James say
one time to have something against somebody and wish ill or something
about them. It's like you taking the poison
and it, it hurts you. It don't hurt the other person.
It hurts you. That's the person that hurts. The person that you
don't forgive and the person that you're unmerciful to, it
ain't going to hurt them. It's going to hurt you. It's
going to eat on you. It's going to bother you. And that's what
happened here. And he said, you know what? The
tormentor's till he should pay always is due. And he put him
right back where God put him again. And if we ever, God have
mercy on us, if we ever treat people like this, we bring ourselves
back under the guilt and condemnation. A person can't be like this and
be conscious of the love of God at the same time and be like
this. And then look what he said in verse 35. So likewise shall
my heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts. Now he goes to the heart of the
matter now. Your hearts. This business of salvation is
a hard work. If you from your hearts forget
not ever one his brother their trespasses. How much time are
we allowed before we think things are right, before we can forgive
somebody? What sin could we sin against one another that we could
not forgive one another? What sin could we do? Could we
lie, cheat, steal, something worse? How much time are we allowed
to think about forgiving him or not? And this verse of scripture,
this parable teaches us two great things. The foundation of all
mercifulness and all forgiveness in men is receiving mercy and
forgiveness from God. You've got to experience it before
you can exercise it. If you have been forgiven, you
can't forgive. If God has shown you mercy, then
you can't show mercy. And the second thing, we must
exercise this like exercise forgiveness and mercy and pity and kindness
and compassion. Desire to continue to experience
that from God our Lord Jesus said blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy Now I want you to look with me in
Ephesians 5 and I'll close with this Ephesians 5 This is this is this is where
the gospel starts starts with forgiveness Look what he said
here in verse 30 of Ephesians 4 Start in verse 30 of Ephesians
4. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God. That word grieve there means
is that, you know, that don't offend Him. Don't offend Him. Don't make Him hurt inside you. The Spirit of God that's inside
you. Whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. And He
says, this are the things that would grieve Him. Let all bitterness
and wrath, and anger, and clamor. That word clamor means making
a lot of noise and having a lot of action towards something that's
going on. And stop all evil speaking. Be
put away from you with all malice. Malice is an ill, ill will towards
somebody. And he says, this is the way
you won't grieve the Holy Spirit. And be ye kind one to another. tender-hearted, tender-hearted. How tender-hearted is our Lord
Jesus. He'd be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. We've come to a throne of grace
to obtain mercy in the time of need. And be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, listen to it, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children, And listen to this, and walk
in love, walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet
smelling savor. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that there is forgiveness
with thee. Thank you that our sins are forgiven,
that you've not imputed our iniquities unto us. Lord, oh, you're so
kind, you're so gracious, and you are pitiful. You show great
pity to us because you remember that we're but dust, that our
frames are just dust, that we're so weak, so frail. And oh Lord,
I ask forgiveness for myself, and I ask forgiveness of all
this congregation for anything I've said, done, or acted in
any way that would dishonor you and shame you. God, have mercy
on me. Lord, I look to you for everything.
Trust you for all things. And I trust you for this congregation.
I trust you for the gospel. I trust you for strength. I trust
you for this body of believers to cause us to grow, to cause
us to live to your glory, live to your honor, to magnify your
grace in our bodies, and in our attitudes, and in our actions.
We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.