The Parable of Forgiveness

Now then, let's turn to Matthew
18. In these verses, the Lord Jesus Christ deals with a Bishop
J.C. Rowe called a deeply important
subject, the forgiveness of injustices,
injuries, and misunderstandings. Forgiveness of all injustices,
injuries, and misunderstandings. Now we are human and we live
in a world of humanity and flesh and we can expect Today, tomorrow,
the next day, next week, next month, next year, we can expect
misunderstandings. We can expect disappointments. We can expect injustices and
injuries. Whether intentional or unintentional,
they're going to occur. Many of them are unintentional.
Some are intentional. But these verses deal with the
subject, how a Christian conducts himself in reference to others
in regard to these misunderstandings and these injustices or injuries
or afflictions or whatever name or title you wish to give them.
And it's of the greatest importance. It has eternal consequences. Now, I've jotted down three things
that occurred to me in the study of
this parable by way of introducing it. Number one, our attitude
toward others in the midst of misunderstandings, injustices,
injuries, whatever they are, intentional or unintentional,
our attitude toward others in the midst of these things reveals
our relationship to God. Did you know that? That's so.
I want you to turn to several scriptures that tell us that.
First John, chapter 3. First John, chapter 3. Now, while
you're finding that, did not our Lord say, did not our Lord
say, by this shall all men know you are my disciples if you love
one another? Your love for one another revealed
your discipleship. And then in 1 John 3, verse 14,
listen to this. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. Verse 17. of 1 John 3, but whoso
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? 1 John 4, verse 8. 1 John 4, 8. He that loveth not
knoweth not God, for God is love. 1 John 4, verse 20. If a man say, I love God and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 John 2, 9. 1 John 2, 9. He that saith he is in the light
and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples if you love one another. So our attitude toward
others reveals our relationship with God. It is not our words
alone that reveal our relationship with God. It is our attitude
toward others. Secondly, our attitude toward
others in the midst of affliction, not in the midst of sunshine
and when everything's going our way, everything's pleasing us,
our Lord said, you love those that love you, what thank have
you? Unbelievers do the same thing.
You give to those from whom you hope to receive something in
return, what thank have you? Unbelievers do the same thing.
You pray for those who pray for you, what thank have you? Unbelievers
have the same attitudes, a selfish attitude. So our attitude toward
others in the midst of trouble or trial or misunderstanding
reveals, watch this now, it reveals our understanding of the mercy
of God. It reveals our understanding
of the mercy of God toward sinners, of which we're the chief. Turn
to Ephesians 4. Now listen to this. In other
words, if you're able to exercise mercy and forgiveness toward
others, it's because you understand God's mercy toward you. If you're
unable to exercise forgiveness and mercy, it's because you don't
understand it. You haven't understood yet what
mercy and grace is. And it's evident because you
don't demonstrate. A person can't tell what he doesn't
know, he can't demonstrate what he hasn't experienced. Now listen
to this. Ephesians 4, 32 and verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. On what basis? Even as God for
Christ's sake has forgiven you and if you don't understand the
mercy of God toward you You can't demonstrate You can't demonstrate
what you haven't experienced You can't put into effect what
you have not received. It's an impossibility Colossians
chapter 3 Colossians 3 verse 12 and 13 listen to this. I Put on therefore as the elect
of God, it's Colossians 3.12, put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, So also do you. So that's two
things by way of introducing this parable. Number one, our
attitude toward others in conflict, misunderstanding, reveals our
relationship to God. And secondly, it reveals our
understanding of mercy, our understanding of forgiveness, our understanding
of the grace of God toward us. And thirdly, In other words,
a crippled man knows how to sympathize with another crippled man. A
man who's blind knows how to enter into the blindness of another
who's blind. And thirdly, our attitude toward
others reveals our concern for the glory
of God. I am personally convinced, the
more I deal with religion and religious people, I'm totally
convinced, I hope it doesn't embitter me as it has embittered
many preachers and evangelists, but I'm totally convinced that
most religious people are not the slightest bit interested
in the glory of God. Not the slightest bit. This is
the thing that that Brother Barnard struggled with throughout the
latter part of his ministry is trying to, and some of you men
who knew him well, trying to keep from growing bitter against
sham and hypocrisy in religion and people doing things not for
the glory of God, but out of selfishness and selfish goals
and selfish aims and selfish objects, not the glory of God,
not the ultimate true glory of the living God. We make decisions
and we do things not considering the overall glory of God, but
our own selfish desires and our own selfish ends and our own
selfish goals. And our attitude toward others
in the midst of conflict and trial and misunderstandings or
whatever reveals whether or not it is the glory of God, the chief
glory of God we seek, or our own glory. I've known churches
to have differences and pastors to grow angry and someone quits
and they take a handful of people with them. Well, they're not
seeking the glory of God. If they're seeking the glory
of God, they say, now you stay and study the word of God. Don't
divide the church. Don't cause over the gospel.
That's another thing. But let's don't have turmoil. Let's don't have conflict. Let's
don't walk off. Stay in for the glory of God. Keep the witness. Keep the testimony. But we don't think of the glory
of God. We think of proving our point. We think of our pride
and our selfishness and our destruction to prove that we're right in
a matter. And that's not the glory of God.
We've all been guilty of this. And our attitude toward others
reveals whether or not what we're thinking and what we're doing
is for the glory of God. Now, someone said this one time,
men, people who care little for doctrine, can understand. They may not understand your
doctrine, but they can understand your spirit. They know whether
or not it's bad or good. Now you can stand all day and
talk to a man about election and depravity and the revelation
of the spirit and the church and all these things. He may
not understand what you're talking about, but he can understand your spirit. He knows whether your attitude
is right or not. He knows whether your spirit
is right or not. He knows whether or not you have
a gracious spirit or a kind spirit or a loving spirit. He understands
that. He may not know why Moses hit
the rock, but he knows why you hit him. See what I'm saying? He may not know why they nailed
Christ to the cross, but he knows why you nailed him to the cross. He may not know why they spit
in the face of Christ, but he knows why you spit in his face. He may not understand these doctrines
you're presenting him. but he can understand your spirit,
my spirit. I'm not preaching to you, I'm
preaching to me too. Turn to Matthew 5, 16. Now our attitude
and our spirit toward others in the midst of conflict, and
they may be dead wrong, you may be dead right, but it's not right
we're trying to be, but godly we're trying to be. You may be set like Peter to
defend your Lord, but with the wrong weapon. He drew his sword, and our Lord
rebuked him. He said, put your sword up. You
live by that, you'll die by that. The wrong weapon. Some of us
are set for the defense of our Lord's honor, but we're not using
our Lord's weapon. We're using carnal weapon. Force. Anger. Matthew 5, 16, listen to this. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and do what? Glorify your
Father. Glorify your Father. They don't
know anything about your doctrine. They don't understand the doctrine.
That has to be revealed, but anybody understands attitude. And then turn to 1 Peter 2. Listen to this. 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter 2 verse 19. 1 Peter 2 verse 19. Now listen
to this carefully. I looked at this real hard. 1
Peter 2 verse 19. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience' sake toward God endure grief and suffering
wrongfully, For what glory is it, what, where's the glory,
if when you be buffeted for your faults you take it patiently,
but if when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently,
this is acceptable, this is thankworthy, this is glorifying to God. If you are right, and you do
well, and you still are rebuked for it, and you suffer for it,
and you do it in a manner that is glorifying to Christ, this
is acceptable with the Father. Now, as I said, the background
of this parable is found in Matthew 18, 21, and Peter said to him, How often shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? Seven times, and Christ answered. I say not unto thee seven times,
but seventy times seven. Now, here a certain number is
used for an uncertain number. Now don't multiply that. Don't
multiply 7 times 70 and say that's the line. 490 times and I'm through. No. This is a certain number
designating an uncertain. In other words, here's what the
Lord said. A believer shall be all the days of his life showing
mercy. As all the days of his life he
receives mercy. A believer shall be all the days
of his life forgiving others, and no time limit shall be set
for the exercise of the grace of forgiveness. That we lay aside
all hurt feelings, all vengeance, all malice, all strife, all hatred,
because such feelings are not worthy of a believer. who are themselves objects of
untold mercies and untold grace and forgiveness. Bishop Rouse
said this. I wish everybody had his commentary,
Matthew through John. It's brief, but it's excellent.
He said concerning this statement here, a fire can't continue to
burn without fuel. There's no way a fire is going
to keep burning unless we add fuel to it, just the same way.
It takes two to make a quarrel. It takes two to make a dispute.
So if the believer will resolve by the grace of God that he's
not going to be one of them, But he's going to forgive and
forget and demonstrate the mercy of God in his relationship with
others, the fire will go out. It's sure hard to fight somebody
making love to you. Now here's the parable. Therefore
our Lord said in verse 23, therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened
to a certain king which would take account of his servants.
And when he'd begun to reckon, one of them was brought to him
who owed him 10,000 talents. You know how much that is? Well,
a talent, according to the marginal reference here, one talent is
750 ounces of silver. Which means that this man owed,
now listen to this, this man owed 450,000 pounds of silver,
a half a million pounds of silver, that's what he owed, which is
equivalent according to the amplified version of about 10 million dollars,
that's what he owed. And his lord called him in to
account for it. And he had nothing to pay, and he begged for patience
and forgiveness, and the Lord loosed him and forgave him of
the whole thing. He said, just write it off. Forget
it. Write it off. What an enormous debt. Just write
it off. Well, it goes on. It says, but
that same man went out and found one of his fellow servants which
owed him a hundred pence. Do you know what that is? three-quarters of a pound of
silver, twelve ounces, that's all, which is roughly twenty
dollars. Here's a man that was standing
in the presence of his Lord and had just been forgiven an enormous
astronomical debt of ten million dollars. Totally, freely forgiven,
wiped out, loosed him, let him go. He walked right out face
to face with a man who owed him twenty dollars And it says he
grabbed him by the throat and demanded that he be paid or be
put in prison. And that man fell down, and did
you notice he said the same thing that this man said, have patience
with me and I'll pay you, but he would not. He pressed it and
pressed it and pressed it. Now then, here's the picture.
No matter how badly someone wrongs me, or I think they do, Our neighbor's
offenses against us are mere trifles, just trifles, compared
with our offenses against God. Brethren, our sins go back to
the Garden of Eden. When man tried his best to throw
God off the throne, we were identified with Adam in that fall. That's
what the Scripture says, in Adam all died because in Adam all
sinned. Our transgressions go back to
the cross of Calvary, where we scream for the blood of the Son
of God, where we, with Herod and Pilate and the Jews and the
Gentiles, were arrayed against the Lord's Christ, crying, we
will not have this man reign over us. We've enthroned self,
we will not bow to Christ. Our sins are innumerable, how
much I owe God. I want you to listen to an illustration.
Augustus Toplady only lived to be 38 years of age. He wrote,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. He said
one time, if a person only sinned one time
an hour, now think about this, one time an hour, We sin many more times than that. That's just one idle word an
hour. That's just one evil or false or proud or selfish thought
an hour. That's just one harsh look. That's
just leaving undone what I ought to do or doing what I ought not
to do or thinking or feeling or saying or assuming what I
shouldn't do. One time an hour. If I sin one
time an hour, when that person reaches 50 years of age, He will
have committed 438,000 offenses against God. But one time an hour was not
the start of our offenses, not the start of our death. When
you consider our debt in transgressions and iniquities and idle thoughts
and evil words and attitude and all of these things, when you
think about our sins against God beginning in the Garden of
Eden and right up to this present moment, it reaches mammoth proportions. And I say if we're thinking of
our sins in any less quantity or quality, we're deceived. If
you think you've got any less than a half a million offenses
against God, you're deceived. Most of us just think in the
sense that, well, I never have killed anybody, I never have
taken God's name in vain, I never have done this, that, and the
other, and they wind it up and get just about like the rich
young ruler who set all of these things that I kept from my youth
up. But God says every idle word shall be brought into judgment.
Every evil thought, that which was done in the closet, shall
be shouted from the housetop. That's the offense. And our debt
is astronomical. It's a mammoth debt. It's an
enormous debt. Turn to Romans 6. Here's a description
of our debt. Romans 7 it is. Romans 7, verse
15. Let's look at this right here.
Romans 7, 15. Here's the Apostle Paul, he knew something about
sin. He said, Romans 7, 15, that which I do, I allow not, I know
not. For what I would, that do I not.
What I hate, that's what I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent to the law that it is good. It's no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I know that in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing, to will is present with me how to perform
that which is perfect. I find not for the perfect or
perfection or good that I would, I do not, and the evil I would
not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it's not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then
a law that when I would do good, you ever experience this? When
I would be perfect, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
after the inward man. Somebody says, this is an unsaved
man. No, it's not either. No unsaved man ever delighted
in the law of God. No unsaved man ever thanked God
through Jesus Christ the Lord for the victory. This is a redeemed
man. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind. bringing me into captivity of the law of sin, which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from this body of death?" If Paul said this before he met
Christ, why does he say what he says next? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. This is not Paul the unredeemed. This is not Paul the unreconciled. This is not Paul the unregenerate.
This is Paul the apostle. And you're just covering your
own rottenness and corruption when you try to say that this
was Paul before he was saved. You're revealing your ignorance
of sin and self and God's holiness. With the mind I myself serve
the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now look
back at the text. The enormous debt that we owe. What sins? What sins? in verse 25, and he had nothing
to pay. I was sitting here working on this
sermon today, and I was right here at this point, right here,
and a fellow walked in my study. He was as dirty. I had when he
left I had to turn the air conditioner on to clear the air honestly
He was dirty. He was ragged He had a hat that
looked like four people wore it out before he ever got it.
That's right You've never seen a hat like that hat in your life
He had a peon in his pocket up here, but there wasn't any bottom
in the pocket The peon was sticking out the bottom down here He had
a string around his breeches. He was ragged. He was dirty. He was one of the most pitiful
looking people I've ever seen. He was begging. He wanted something
to eat. And I thought when he turned
and walked out, that's me. before the holy perfect throne
of God Almighty. That's me spiritually. That's
what Hannah said. She called us beggars from the
dunghill. A beggar has no property, a beggar
has no influence, a beggar has no inheritance, a beggar hadn't
got anything but a plea for mercy. That's all. That man, there's
nothing. As I sat there at my desk, I
thought as I looked at him, there's nothing, nothing that man's got
that I want. Not one thing in this world has
that man got, not one thing could he contribute at all. He couldn't
talk plain. He was wretched. He was just
right off the street out of the gutter. And brother, I'll tell
you, I got this enormous debt before God. I've got this enormous
debt. And here I stand with holes in
my pocket. rags on my back, and the smell
of death, oh, the smell of death, the poison of ash. Their throat
is an open sepulchre, Paul said, the smell of death, the smell
of rotten flesh, and me talk about paying God. The only thing
I can do before God is say like the publican, God be merciful
to me a sinner. And I'm telling you, and I'm
going to tell you as kindly and graciously as I can, if you haven't
seen yourself in that condition, you haven't yet come to Christ. And I believe that. I believe
you might have whittled you out of God, and you might have a
profession of faith, and you might have a profession of religion,
and you might have a moral code, and you might have a standard
and all that, but you've never met the Redeemer. Never met him. Because before God clothes a
man, he strips him. Before God raises a man, he slays
him. Before God Almighty heals a man,
he wounds him. And then, verse 27, then the
Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him
and forgave him. I'm rejoiced to say That the
blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all my sins and now I
stand before God Not like that fella. I'm a son. I'm not a beggar. I'm a son and I don't have rags
on anymore I have a perfect spotless robe of righteousness woven by
the obedience of my Lord and it shines brighter than the garments
of angels and It glitters and glows with the glory of God.
I have a crown on my head. I'm a king's son. And that's
the way I appear now in the blood of Christ. Holy, unblameable,
unreprovable. And I'm rich. I'm rich. I have an inheritance that's
undefiled, that fadeth not away. It's reserved for me, but I'm
a son. And it's going to be mine. Now then, verse 28. Now this
fellow walked out. Now suppose that fellow came
in my study today and I could do for him what the Lord done
for me. And that's what he did for this man here. He forgave
him. And he went right out and grabbed
the fellow and owed him $20 and demanded that he be paid. Demanded! Now, what I'm asking is this,
shall we demand revenge upon someone who's offended us in
such a minor proportion compared to the way that we've sinned
against God? And I'll tell you, when you look
at bitterness and when you look at unkindnesses and when you
look at a bad attitude and the like, of this parable, And the life
of what God's done for us, it appears as wicked as it is, doesn't
it? It appears as ungodly as it really
is. That's right. If I get on my
knees and pray for forgiveness of this enormous debt against
God, these terrible sins, and then walk right out and engage
in some kind of conflict with someone else over a misunderstanding
and hold a grudge or ill feelings over a period of time That says
wicked. That's the reason our Lord. That's
the reason our Lord put such a severe penalty on it It's wicked. It's ungodly. It's not of God
and our Lord said this he said they brought that fellow back
in and His Lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors
till he should pay everything he owed which he never could
do He died in prison He said in verse 35 now look at so likewise
shall my heavenly father do also to you If you and you know, I
never noticed these three words till I Read this scripture a
minute ago if you from your hearts We was in a Bible conference
one time and A good friend of mine was preaching. He was a
real theologian And he got through preaching
brother Barnard walked up to him and He said son He said you
really got it up here in your head If you ever get it down
here in your heart, you'll be something else. I from your hearts, if you, from
your hearts, wouldn't that be something? Forgive not every
one his brother their trespass. Now, nobody knows. This is, this
transaction takes place between you and the Lord. You can shake
hands and you can say, I do this and I do that and I do the other,
but God looketh not on the handshake, God looketh not on the word,
God looketh not on the outward countenance, God sees the heart.
Out of the heart, he says, keep your heart out of it or the issues
of life. Out of the abundance of the heart,
that's what the mouth really speaking. And that's where God
looks, God judges our hearts. And he says, likewise my father
will deliver you to the tormentors to pay all that you owe if you
from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother. Now here's
what he's saying. God does not forgive us because
we forgive others. You know better than that. But
what he is saying is an unforgiving spirit reveals an absence of
grace. That's what he's saying. An unforgiving
spirit, a spirit of malice and hatred, reveals an absence of
mercy in our hearts. That's what it does. A forgiving
spirit is like any other grace. Christ said if you don't love,
It reveals you don't love God. If you don't forgive, it reveals
you haven't been forgiven. That's what he's saying. Now
listen to Ryle again. There will be no forgiveness
in the day of judgment for unforgiving people. Why, Mr. Ryle? Well, because such people,
unforgiving, unmerciful people, would be unfit for heaven An
unmerciful man, an unforgiving man could not value a place to
which mercy is the title. How would he enjoy heaven? Mercy
is our title to heaven. Mercy is our title deed. How
could he enjoy a place in which mercy is the theme song? Unto
him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own precious
blood. How can he sing that kind of
song if he doesn't have that kind of grace? You see what he's
saying? Well, it's very clear. In verse 35, what our Lord is
saying, when I exhibit an unforgiving spirit, God will not forgive
me. And the reason God will not forgive
me is that that unforgiving spirit is evidence that I am not a child
of grace, not a child of mercy. Now that's the meaning of such
scriptures as these. I want you to turn to four. I
want you to listen to these four. This is important. Matthew 6.
First of all, Matthew 6. This is what our Lord is talking
about in Matthew 6. Now listen to it. It's not that we earn mercy.
We don't earn forgiveness and earn mercy by showing mercy or
showing forgiveness. But a true knowledge of mercy
is revealed in our actions and in our attitudes. Matthew 6,
13, and we're praying, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. Thine is the kingdom, the power,
and the glory forever. For if you forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you
forgive not men their sin, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Turn to Matthew 5, 7, back just a little bit, Matthew 5, 7. Blessed are the merciful, they
shall obtain mercy. The unmerciful are not going
to obtain mercy. And then in Luke 6, listen to
this one, Luke 6 verse 35, Luke 6 verse 35, listen. Love your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing again, and your reward shall be great. You shall be
called You shall be the children of the highest, for he's kind
to the unthankful and to the evil. See the basis? And be ye
therefore merciful as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you
won't be judged. Condemn not, and you won't be
condemned. Forgive, and you'll be forgiven.
Give, and it shall be given to you. Not as a result of these things. They're not given because we
do it. But it reveals that we've had a work of grace. Therefore
we will receive the blessings of grace. Now one more, James
2 verse 13, and we'll quit. James 2, 13. Listen to this one. James 2, 13. James 2, 13. For he shall have
judgment without mercy. That's terrible, isn't it? That
has showed no mercy. He shall have judgment without
mercy, who showed no mercy. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, Thou hast permitted
us to look into Thy Word. These words that we have read
tonight are not the words of men, but the words of our Master,
our Lord. They're the commandments of our
Lord, the will of our Lord, the revealed
will of our Master. We pray that thou would give
us ears to hear him speak. Take away that prejudice and
self and all these enemies of our flesh that would dull our
hearing, that would object to his words. Grant us, Lord, eyes to see. the will of our Master, and a heart of love and mercy
and grace that we might demonstrate and give evidence that we have
been with Him. Our sins, our guilt, all exceeding
sinfulness of our sins. Like clouds have separated us
from our God, like mountains round us they rise. And yet through
thy mercy and thy grace, through Christ our Redeemer and by his
Effectual blood, these sins and all this guilt and filth and
shame and rags have been swept away. We've been loose from our
debt. We're free. The Son that made
us free. We owe no debt because He paid
it off. O Lord, as Thou hast been merciful
to us, teach us to be merciful. As Thou hast forgiven us, grant
that we may have in our hearts a genuine spirit of forgiveness,
that we judge not, that we be not judged, and condemn not,
that we be not condemned, that we show mercy, that we might
receive mercy. We all wait before Thee, all
beggars from the dunghill, exalted by Thy sovereign love and grace,
robed in the righteousness of Thy Son. We look round about
us, and it's all of grace. Grant, O Lord, that that shall
be the theme of our song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. May this message tonight be a
message that will do for each of us what needs to be done.
Let us reflect upon it, and let not the satanic influence and
the birds of the air remove the seed, but let it fall upon ground
prepared by the Holy Ghost. No objections from our hearts,
because these words are true. Grant that we may walk in Thy
will. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

The Parable of Forgiveness

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