Matthew chapter 18, I'm using
for a title, All Our Sin Debts Are Forgiving. And I'm using
for a verse, a title verse to this message, verse 27. Matthew
18 at verse 27. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved. And we know that this is a picture
of Christ. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. Sovereign mercy. Then the Lord
of that servant was moved. He was moved with compassion.
He was moved with love. And he loosed him of this great
debt, 10,000 talents, and forgave him the debt. Think about this. All our sin
debt's gone. We owe much more than 10,000
talents worth. Our sins are infinite against
God. Believers confess that we are
sinners. that we have committed an infinite
number of sins, iniquities, and transgressions against the Lord. And we have, as this man said,
I have not to pay. I have nothing to pay. Nothing
to pay. Our confession is this, we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've come
short. We've come short. We sang a moment
ago, The Rock of Ages, written by Augustus Toplady.
Augustus Toplady died when he was 38 years old. But Augustus
Toplady said back in his day, back in the 1800s, he said if
we lived to be 60 years old, and he never did make it to 60
years old, but he said if we lived to be 60 years old, and
commit one sin every hour, we would have committed 518,000
sins. That's what he thought in his
mind. That's a very small number compared
to the real number because we sin each minute of our lives
because we are sinners. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Sin is what we
are. What we do is the fruit of our sin nature. We sin because
we are sinners. But here's the good news of the
gospel. Here's the good news of the gospel. The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. All our sins, all our iniquities,
all our transgressions, are forgiven through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read a moment ago, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses
us from all our sins. They just keep on cleansing and
cleansing and cleansing. John writes, if we sin or when
we sin against God, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus
Christ, the righteous. The psalmist David, in Psalm
32, He describes the blessed man. Remember? Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Now think about it. Our sins,
our iniquities, our transgressions, against God are freely forgiven. Freely forgiven because He paid
the debt. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He
forgives us freely because of the sin debt that the Lord fully
paid for us. He forgives us fully, totally,
all our sins are gone. And He forgives us for how long?
As long as we hold out. He forgives us forever, forever. So much so that He said, their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. As far as the East is
from the West, so far has He removed our transgression from
us. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Now, let's go back to verse 21
and verse 22 in Matthew 18. And you remember from our message
last week, Peter came to the Lord and said, How oft shall
my brother sin against me and I forgive him? And Peter's thinking
in his mind, well, this is a pretty generous thing. I'm going to
forgive him seven times. Now, Peter had a brother named
Andrew. Remember? Peter and Andrew. Andrew
was the first one who believed the gospel. And he went and told
Simon Peter and said, we found the Messiah. Come and see. Come
and see. You know they were brothers.
in the Gospel, but they were also brothers in the flesh. And
the Lord said unto him, verse 22, I say not unto thee until
seven times, but seventy times seven. Seventy times seven. The Lord's lesson in all this
is that often as the Lord has forgiven us our sins, We should
be highly motivated to forgive those that have sinned against
us. Remember we read last week from
Ephesians chapter 4, Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. Walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for sweet-smelling savour of life unto life. The Lord,
having said that, He's going to give us this parable on forgiveness,
starting in verse 23, down through verse 35. The Lord gives us this
parable, a parable we know is an earthly story that represents
a spiritual truth. To further give an example of
that principle of love, mercy, and forgiveness, as we have received
these spiritual blessings in Christ, We are blessed with all
spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. To
illustrate that, he gives us this parable, this true parable,
this true story. Verse 27, from verse 23 down
through verse 27, we see the Lord's gracious, sovereign forgiveness
of all of our sin debt. Verse 23, therefore is the kingdom
of heaven likened to a certain king, which would take account
of his servants. And when he began to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him a great debt, 10,000,
10,000 talents. Now we know that the Lord is
talking about himself. We know the Lord is talking about
how he shows mercy to sinners. Every kingdom must have a king. And we know the Lord is king
in his kingdom. We know the Lord is ruler and
king over all. He has all dominion. He said
in Matthew 28, before he ascended, all power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ is certainly
king and Lord over all things, not by our doing, but rather
by His immutable, unchanging decree. God had made that same
Jesus whom you crucified, Peter, Lord and Christ. Every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess that He is Lord of lords and
King of kings in all things. So there is the Lord. of the
kingdom. The second thing we see in verse
23 and verse 24, because Christ is the Lord of all, all men are
accountable unto him. You see the last part of verse
23, which would take account of his servants. And when he
began to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him this
great sum of money, 10,000 talents. One talent, it says there in
the marginal reference, is 750 ounces of silver. Now, because
the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of all, we are accountable unto
him. We owe unto the Lord a great
debt because our sins are against him. As David said, against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Our sins against God are infinite. Beyond calculation, sin is a
transgression of the law, and to offend in one point is to
be guilty of all the law. We have not kept one law one
time. Guilty before God. We're all
guilty, guilty, guilty before the law of God. The Lord gives
us some idea of our sin debt in this number of 10,000 talents
of silver. If you do the math on that with
current prices of silver today, we're going to say this is a
debt in our money in our day would be $200 million. One ounce
of silver is trading right now for $30 an ounce. $200 million.
This man owed to the king. We find out next, verse 25, 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, that payment
be made. The servant in this parable was
penniless. He was bankrupt. He had not to
pay. Underscore those three words,
verse 25. He had not to pay. Not to pay. The lady wrote in that song,
could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer? No. These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. We have not to pay. We have nothing
to satisfy the holy justice of God. We owe great debt to God
and we're penniless. We have no ability to satisfy
God in our great debt of sin. Our works, our repentance, our
faith cannot put away sin. We are helpless. We're hopeless
to make atonement for our sin. The second thing we see is this.
God's holy justice demands satisfaction. For as much as he had not to
pay, the Lord commanded him to be sold his wife, his children,
and all that he had, payment be made. God's justice demands
satisfaction. The sin payment must be made,
our sin debt must be paid, the law of God demands satisfaction. And this is what sin deserves.
The wages of sin is death, death, death, and that and we all die. The holy law of God said he must
pay the debt. Eternal punishment, the wages
of sin is eternal damnation and death. But eternal punishment
will not put away our sin nor satisfy the offended justice
of God. Think about that. Our eternal,
if we're judged eternally for our sin, and condemned eternally
for our sin, that will not satisfy the justice of God. And the reason
I say that is this. Here's the scripture. Saying
to them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked. God's holy justice will not be
satisfied by our eternal suffering. The agonies of God's holy justice
cannot be satisfied by our suffering. That's why hell is eternal. Never
paid the debt. Never satisfied the debt. So
here's this man's predicament. His king demands payment. You
owe me. He said, I'm penniless. I cannot
pay you. So what's the alternative? Beg
for mercy. Ever been there? Beg for mercy. Verse 26. The servant therefore
fell down and worshipped him. Whereas the marginal reference
says there besought him, saying, Lord, I have a wife and I have
children. Don't sell me into slavery. Don't put us in prison. Lord,
have patience. Lord, be long-suffering with
me, and I will pay thee. Here's the sinner's plea for
mercy, is it not? We come before the throne of
God. How do we come? Pleading our goodness? Pleading
our merit? No, we come before the Lord as
mercy beggars, don't we? But oftentimes, before we see
the mercy of God revealed in the gospel, we think if we reform
or repent, Lord have patience and I'll pay thee, give us just
an installment plan, before the Lord reveals the gospel unto
us, we think if we reform, we can pay our debt off. Not so. We think we can work our debt
off, pay the debt off. If we just quit sinning against
God, that's impossible. We can't do that. Religious people are always going
about to establish a righteousness of their own rather than submitting
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. But now here's the good news
of the Gospel. This man approached his Lord
as a mercy beggar and asked for mercy, verse 27, then, then the
Lord, the Lord, the Lord of that servant, our Lord is Lord of
all things. He is Lord of all things. He
was moved with compassion and loosed him of his debt and forgave
him. Now this man didn't deserve forgiveness. He didn't deserve to have his
Debt freely given. The reasons not found in the
man, the reasons found in the Lord. His Lord delighted to show
mercy. The Lord was moved with compassion,
but God who was rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin. We see the Lord
was moved with compassion. We see here the infinite compassion
of the Lord. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God is glorified in pardoning
our sin. When Moses asked the Lord to,
show me your glory, remember what the Lord said? I beseech
thee, Moses said, show me thy glory. Then the Lord said, I
will make all my goodness pass before thee. That's Christ. I'll
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. I'll show mercy to whom I will
show mercy. The reason is found in God, not
in us. Our Lord is willing to do so.
I love the prayer of Nehemiah. Thou art a God ready to pardon. Micah records this. Our God delights
to show mercy. Listen to this verse. Who is
a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? that passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth
not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy. He will
turn again. He will have compassion on us.
He will subdue our iniquities. Thou shalt cast all their sin
into the depth of the sea." Now, three things we see in verse
27. The Lord was moved with compassion.
He loosed him and forgave him his debt. Three things that are
mentioned here. The Lord was moved with compassion. What is that? Love, isn't it?
That's love. Love. Here is love, not that
we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. Having loved His own which are
in the world, He loved them to the end. We studied in Psalm
111. He has made His wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. Have you noticed how many times
in our study that we've run into this thing of the Lord showing
compassion? Turn back to Matthew 9. Matthew
9, verse 35. Jesus went about all the cities
and villages, teaching in their synagogue, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, healing every sickness and every disease among
the people. But when He saw the multitude,
He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He
had compassion on them. Turn over to chapter 14, Matthew
14, 14. Matthew 14, 14. Begin reading at verse 13. Matthew
14, 13. When Jesus heard of it, He departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people
had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude and was moved with Compassion toward them and
He healed the sick. Turn to Matthew 15. The point
I'm making here, you know what the point is, don't you? The
Lord is full of compassion. In Matthew 15, verse 32, Jesus
called His disciples unto Him and said, I have compassion on
the multitude because they continue with Me Now these three days,
and have nothing to eat, I will not send them away fasting, lest
they faint in the way." He was moved with compassion. What did
he do? He gave them bread to eat, didn't he? One other place,
turn to Matthew 20. Matthew 20, verse 29. Matthew 20, 29. And they departed
from Jericho, and great multitudes followed Him. Behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David! The multitude rebuked him, because
they should hold their peace. But they cried to more, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. Now watch this.
Jesus stood still. He stopped in his tracks. He
stood still and called them and said, what will you that I should
do unto you? And they saying to him, Lord,
that thou open our eyes, our eyes may be opened. And Jesus
had compassion on them, touched their eyes and immediately their
eyes received their sight. The Lord is full of compassion
toward his people. He's full of compassion. The
second thing we see back in our text, Matthew 18, 27. He was moved because of His eternal
love toward His people. And then it says, secondly, He
loosed Him. He loosed Him of that debt. And
forgave Him of that debt. There is forgiveness with the
Lord. The Lord forgave the debt. The psalmist writes, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sin, according to the riches of His grace. Turn over here
to Acts chapter 13. Just pass the book of John. Acts
chapter 13. With the Lord there is compassion. With the Lord there is forgiveness
of sin. With the Lord there is this loosing
freedom and liberty we have in Christ Jesus. This is Paul's
first sermon, Acts 13. David, verse 36, after he had
served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep
and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom
God raised up saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the
forgiveness of sin. delivered for our offenses, raised
again for our justification. By him, therefore, all that believe
are justified from all things which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses." The Lord had compassion on us, the Lord
has forgiven us, and the Lord has set us free. He loosed him
and forgave him. There is freedom and liberty
with the Lord, He set us free. You remember the scripture in
John 8, you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Whom the Son sets free, He's free indeed. Stand fast in the
liberty with Christ, as freedom from the bondage of sin, from
the curse of the law, from death, give us life. He said, I am He
that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. This man was completely discharged
from his debt, but not from being a servant to this One who forgave
him. Believers are loving bondservants
of the Lord. They serve Him because they love
Him. Paul often called himself the
servant of the Lord. This servant was forgiven all
of his debt, But He was still His servant to serve Him out
of love and gratitude. Out of love and gratitude. The
Lord was moved with compassion. Verse 27. Set Him in liberty. Set Him free from that debt.
Forgave Him. Now here's the rest of the story.
Here's the rest of the story. You think that man, having been
forgiven this large debt, would be willing to forgive others
who owed him a small debt. But look what it says. 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. Now, for figuring's sake, we're
going to say this is $200 versus $200 million. He found this guy
that owed him, a fellow servant now, $200, took him by the throat,
and said, you pay me right now. I demand payment. And his fellow
servant fell down and besought him, saying, have patience on
me, and I'll pay thee. Now he did the exact same thing,
didn't he? You have pity on me as the Lord
just had pity on you, as the Master just had pity on you,
and he would not, verse 30. But went out 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
they told their Lord all that was done. Then the Lord, after
that he had called him, said unto him, O, O, verse 32, you
see it? Thou wicked servant. I forgave thee all thy debt because
you asked me to do so. Shouldest not thou also had compassion
on thy fellow servant, and even as I had pity on thee?" Now you
get the rest of the story, don't you? Now the Lord is teaching
us about how many times we should forgive. As the Lord has forgiven
us, we should forgive one another. And the Lord was wroth, verse
34, and delivered him to the tormentors, that he should pay
all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if you from your heart forgive not every
one his brother, his trespasses. Now, we know that in the gospel, the
Lord Jesus Christ, that our sin is forgiven forever. based upon
the atonement of Christ. And we shall never face our sin
again. We shall never be charged with
our sin again. Because His blood cleanses us. And because there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to sing our closing
hymn. That song that we often sing. Jesus paid it all. All
the debt I owe. Sin that left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Now some, let me close with this,
some have the very wrong idea that Christ paid the debt for
my past sin and that I must pay the debt for my future sin. That's
not so. Now think about this, when the
Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of His covenant people,
all our sins were future, right? We hadn't personally committed
any sin, but the Lord took all of our sin and laid upon Him.
God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Call His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sins. Now the application to us, so
likewise, verse 35, shall my heavenly Father do also
unto you, if you from your heart Forgive not every one his brother
that trespass against you. What a lesson in forgiveness.
We study in the book of James just a moment ago. For he shall
have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy. We read last week Luke 6, 36. Be therefore merciful as your
father is also merciful. merciful. We know that our Lord
does not forgive us based upon our forgiveness. That would be
salvation by works. But the point is, those who refuse
to show mercy to others just reveal they've not received mercy
from the Lord. That they have not been saved
by His grace. Love begets love. Mercy begets
mercy. Those who refuse to forgive others
only reveal they've never been forgiven. Those who harbor hatred
and grudges in their heart against others have not experienced the
grace and love of God in their heart. May God give us grace,
and it takes grace. May God give us grace to demonstrate
love and mercy and forgiveness to others because we have been
freely forgiven based upon the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember when the Lord told
those disciples to forgive others and to forgive those who sin
against them? Remember what they said? Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. May the Lord
be pleased to give us a broken heart and a contrite spirit,
and for love's sake, to forgive one another. The Lord is nigh
them of a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. What would you say is the supreme
example of this forgiving others? Well, you know it's Christ, didn't
you? The Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said this, when He was
hanging there nailed to the cross by His vicious enemies who hated
Him, nailed Him there bleeding and dying, what did He say? I'm going to get even. What did
he say? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That's the supreme example of
forgiveness. May God help us to foster and
to grow in grace that attitude of love and forgiveness because
we've been forgiven. We've been forgiven.