The Truly Forgiven by God are Forgiving of One Another #1

Introduction: The Strange Words of Love Incarnate and the Centrality of Forgiveness

0:04 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 13, 2003, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Turn with me, please, to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18.

0:25 I shall read in your hearing verses 21 to the end of the chapter, verse 35.

0:34 Matthew 18 at verse 21. Now, then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus said unto him, I say not unto you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.

1:04 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, who would make a king of the world, and who would make a king of the world. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him that owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not wherewith 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 worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.

1:41 And the Lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hold on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you.

2:15 And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay that which was due. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord called him unto him, and said unto him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that. I forgave you all that debt, because you besought me.

2:47 Should not you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you? And his Lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if you forgive. If not, every one his brother from your hearts.

3:23 Well, let us pray again and ask God by the Spirit to open up his word to us today.

3:32 Our Father, we thank you for your special presence in the midst of your gathered people. Thank you for ministering to our hearts already by your word as we have sought your face together. O Lord, continue with us. Deepen and augment the sense of your presence.

3:54 Come to us on the wings of your word. By the ministry of the Spirit. Engage our hearts as well as our minds. For Jesus' sake and our good.

4:06 Amen.

4:13 Does it not seem strange that from the lips of the love incarnate, such words as these should proceed from that person. Wonderful. deliver him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due. Stranger yet, that he should speak these words as a warning to those very people of whom John writes and says, having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.

4:51 These are love words to his own. So shall my heavenly Father do unto you if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. Yet even more strange is the fact that they are spoken in a setting in which the main subject is forgiveness. God's forgiveness of sinners and fellow sinners in their forgiveness are not the same.

5:26 of one another. Hence, these words are a fresh reminder of how vital it is to have all of our thinking about forgiveness shaped and molded by the Word of God and not by our own notions, especially our own sentimental notions, nor the opinions of men, nor popular ideas. And this is what we're seeking to do as we come this morning to our nightly study in a series entitled Now Concerning Forgiveness. I began the series by seeking to set before you the centrality of forgiveness in biblical revelation. We then moved on and sought to grapple with a biblical definition and description of forgiveness. I then set before you four common mistakes about forgiveness, especially mutual, or horizontal forgiveness. And then, last week, I concluded addressing three practical pastoral perspectives concerning forgiveness.

The Critical Principle: The Truly Forgiven are Forgiving

6:38 We come this morning and again this evening to consider what is perhaps the most critical issue in all of our Lord's teaching on the subject of mutual or horizontal forgiveness. That is, the forgiveness that we are to extend, one to another, within the family of God. And reduced to a simple principle, this critical issue is this. And I pause simply to define what I mean by a principle.

7:11 A principle is a fundamental truth or law or doctrine upon which others are based. That's what a principle is. And I'm stating that in the teaching of our Lord Himself, not that the teaching of the apostles, is not the teaching of Christ, but in the recorded words of Christ Himself, I'm asserting that there is perhaps no more critical issue than the principle that we're going to isolate and seek to expound and apply today. And reduced to its irreducible minimum, the principle is this, that according to Jesus, the truly forgiven by God are also the truly forgiven by God, are also the truly forgiven by God, are also the truly forgiven by God, are also the truly forgiven by God, or to state it a little differently, only those who forgive one another will be forgiven by God. Or to state it in another way, in the negative form, if there is no forgiveness extended to the family, there will be no forgiveness received from the Father. And it is that principle, upon which I want us to focus our attention as I've intimated both this morning and again this evening. Now as you sit here this morning,

8:41 if you believe that forgiveness from God, the moral governor and judge of the world before whom you'll stand in the last day, is unimportant, an issue of little or no concern to you, then you can afford the luxury of daydreaming, you can afford the luxury of indifference, of a wandering mind, and be easily distracted as I preached this morning and God willing, again this evening. However, if knowing that you enjoy the manifold blessings which come to those who live under the canopy of God's forgiving grace, if that is an issue of supreme importance to you, then I urge you to gird up the mind, then I urge you to gird up the mind, then I urge you to gird up the loins of your mind, and bend all of your powers in present continuous dependence upon the Holy Spirit, praying and thinking hard to grasp this tremendously vital principle, that only the truly forgiving have any reason to believe that they are forgiven. The truly forgiven by God, The truly forgiven by God, The truly forgiven by God, are also the truly forgiving of one another.

10:04 And I'll seek to open up this principle under three heads. The principle clearly and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord. Secondly, the principle clearly and dramatically illustrated by our Lord, that will be our sermon this morning, and then God willing tonight, the principle pointedly and practically applied based upon the teaching, of our Lord. So we begin then with the principle clearly and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord.

Principle Clearly and Repeatedly Affirmed by Our Lord: Matthew 6

10:38 Now remember, the one who speaks the words we're now going to look at, is the one who knows that he came from heaven by way of Mary's womb, in order to live the life that we should have lived, but did not, and dare to die the death, that we deserved but dare not, in order to secure our salvation. In other words, he was conceived in Mary's womb and born to die. No one knew that better than he. Throughout his lifetime, the shadow of the cross was continually cast over our blessed Lord. So whatever he may teach us concerning this great, great principle, that if we are not forgiving, we have no grounds to believe we are forgiven, in no way is to be construed as though our forgiving others earns us forgiveness with God. No. Our forgiveness is rooted in the perfect life and substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ alone.

11:57 So that when we look at these three texts in which this principle is clearly and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord, we must not for a moment think of them in such a way as to cast the slightest shadow of doubt over this central biblical truth that the ground of our forgiveness is to be found solely in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the principle is nonetheless clearly, and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord, we look at the first witness, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. After our Lord has corrected the wrong way to pray, he gives to his disciples a pattern, a framework for God-honoring prayer in what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer. And in that prayer found in Matthew chapter 6, beginning at verse 9, and going down to verse 15, there are seven petitions. Three of them are directly related to God, four of them directly related to our needs. Let me read a brief prayer.

13:19 After this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father who art in heaven, petition number one, God-Word, hallowed be thy name, petition number two, God-Word, thy kingdom come, petition number three, God-Word, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Four petitions of our needs.

13:44 Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now, among those seven petitions, only two have any kind of qualification.

14:05 One, one God-Word, one man-Word. Look at the qualification of the petition that God's will be done. Thy will be done, here's the qualification, as in heaven, so on earth. And then when we pray, verse 12, forgive us our debts, here's the qualification, as we have forgiven our debtors.

14:30 So among the seven petitions, only two have qualification. One of the God-Word petitions, one of the man-Word petitions. However, only one has detailed amplification. Only one.

14:48 Now you would think it would be one of those that is a God-Word petition, that our Lord would have amplified. What does it mean? Hallowed be your name. Lord, give us some more instruction as to what that means.

15:01 He doesn't do it. Doesn't do it. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, surely we would love some amplification, qualification further upon that petition.

15:16 It isn't given. The only petition that has anything approaching thorough amplification is that one petition which joins the ranks of that which has a little expansion. Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors, then two whole verses, verses 14 and 15, are given to this amplification upon that one petition.

15:51 Now think of the significance of that. Our Lord has given us this one framework for God-honoring, God-acceptable prayer. Only one. You have the parallel passage in Luke in a different setting.

16:07 There is a take-off from this, follows the basic contours. It's a little more condensed. Only one. And within that one, only one petition is given detailed amplification.

16:21 And what is it? It's the petition, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And if you were to count the words in the original, which I did in my Greek text, you would find that the entire prayer has 57 Greek words. The amplification has more than half of the words of the entire prayer amplifying this one petition.

16:57 Now do you feel something of how important the Lord must have thought this was? If of all the things that could have been amplified and we wish had been amplified, here is the one that is for us. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

17:28 And in the typical biblical positive negative framework, our Lord makes it abundantly clear that if you are not a forgiving man or woman, you will not be a forgiven man or woman. If you are not extending forgiveness to the family, the Father will not extend forgiveness to you. There's the principle. Our second witness is Mark 11 and verse 25.

Principle Clearly and Repeatedly Affirmed by Our Lord: Mark 11 and Luke 6

18:02 We're just looking now at the principle clearly and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord to feel the weight of its importance in the mind and heart of our Savior. In Mark chapter 11, taking the occasion of the cursing of the fig tree, our Lord is giving to His disciples a very basic lesson concerning prayer. And in Mark chapter 11, verse 22, He underscores the necessity of praying in faith. And I'm not going to go into the meaning of those words.

18:39 Suffice it to say that He summarizes His emphasis in verse 24. I say unto you all things whatsoever you pray and ask for, believe that you received them, and you shall have them. The first great lesson He gives concerning prayer is that our prayers must be suffused with faith. Not a fanatical faith, but a faith rooted in the revelation of the will of God concerning those things that we can ask in confidence that they are according to the will of God.

19:10 And therefore, they are as good as in our hands when we ask for them. But then there's a second great lesson concerning prayer. Verse 25. And whensoever you stand praying, forgive.

19:27 You must not only pray in faith, but you must always pray from a posture of a heart suffused with the disposition and the activity of forgiveness. When you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any. In order that, and these are astounding, astounding, astounding, words, a Hina clause of purpose, Hina, in order that your father who is in heaven may forgive you. I said, Lord, can I say the words that this makes me say and not be irreverent?

20:14 God, get permission to forgive. If you won't forgive, that's the force of the language. When you stand praying, forgive in order that your father may forgive. You don't forgive, you tie up his forgiveness. Profound truth. There's our principle. Would you have the father's forgiveness? Then extend forgiveness to the members of the family. Have both the disposition of readiness to forgive and have the actual activity of conferral of forgiveness when the terms to confer it and to extend it have been met, as we saw in a previous study. Surely the principle is brought forward again by our Lord Jesus in unmistakable language.

21:19 Forgive in order that your father may forgive. And then our third witness is Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, in a section, that has material very similar to the Sermon on the Mount, but is, in my judgment, shared by most commentators, a different setting. Our Lord was an itinerant preacher, and itinerant preachers use material over and over again and adjust it to the varying circumstances. And here our Lord is giving many of the materials found in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7. And here he says in verse 36, Be merciful, even as your father is merciful. And do not judge, and you shall not be judged. And do not condemn, and you shall not be condemned. Release or forgive, and you shall be released

22:20 or forgiven. When I was hammering out with you a biblical definition and description of forgiveness, looking at the three main, Hebrew words and the four main Greek words, I mentioned that there was a word used only here for forgiveness. The Greek word apoluo, used for divorcing, for sending something away, for loosing it and then getting rid of it. And here our Lord says, and the obvious meaning in this setting is, to set forth the concept of forgiveness. If you release, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you forgive, if you You must not send the issue away, for remember, that's of the very essence of forgiveness. The commitment of my will, that I will seek to put the thing out of mine, will not raise it with the person forgiven, will not raise it with others, will not allow it to remain a barrier in my relationship to that person. If I release, forgive, I shall be released and forgiven. My forgiveness.

23:30 My forgiveness. My forgiveness. Forgiveness is predicated upon my being forgiven. So there's the principle, brethren, repeatedly, clearly affirmed by the Lord Jesus, and it in no way undermines the central biblical truth that our salvation rests on nothing in us, but solely upon the perfect work of Him who laid the principle before us.

24:01 You don't need to teach Jesus how grace works. You and I don't need to teach Jesus how to protect the doctrine of justification by faith alone based upon the work of Christ alone. We don't need to be His teachers. We're His disciples.

24:25 We're His pupils. And when we sit at His feet, we hear Him saying clearly and repeatedly this vital principle. Only those who are truly forgiving will be truly forgiven.

24:45 There's the principle. Clearly, repeatedly affirmed by our Lord. So that we need to incorporate into the grid of our thinking, and this is where God has had dealings with me as a pastor, as a preacher. I have sought over the years to thunder forth the truth such as John 3, 5, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

25:15 Matthew 18, 3, except you be converted and become as little children, you cannot enter the kingdom. Luke 13, 3, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Put this into that category. Except.

25:31 You forgive. You'll be damned. Because you'll be without forgiveness.

25:38 We need to put it into that category of an absolute issue with respect to whether or not we are in the kingdom and the health of our souls while we are in the kingdom. Now having established, I trust, the principle as we see it clearly and repeatedly affirmed by our Lord, now we come to the principle, the principle clearly and dramatically illustrated by our Lord. And here we come to our Matthew 18 passage.

The Initiating Question of Peter and Jesus' Initial Response

26:12 The principle clearly and dramatically illustrated by our Lord. Now we're going to park here and do what I most love to do, expound a passage.

26:26 Alright? We have the initiating question of Peter, verse 21. It begins with a little adverb, which means at that time. At that time.

26:36 At that time. At that time. At that time. Then, at that time, came Peter.

26:40 What time? Well, our Lord has just been giving instruction about what to do when there are offenses among brethren. Verse 15 of the chapter. If your brother sinned against you, go show him his fault between you and him alone.

26:54 If he hears you, owns his fault, seeks your forgiveness, you have gained your brother. So it's in the context of dealing with offenses and resolving those offenses with biblical rebuke, reproof, owning of sin, confession of sin, forgiveness of sin, restoration of relationships. In that setting, Peter comes, the grand spokesman of the twelve.

27:19 Poor Peter gets picked on.

27:22 And maybe rightly so. But I won't pick on him. I'm tempted to, but I'm not going to do it. As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye hold unto them.

27:31 I'll be dead someday and people will pick up on my peculiarities and my Martinisms. I hope they're kind to me. Like I'm being kind to Peter today. All right.

27:42 Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how often, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Now, Lord, you've told us if your brother sins against you, tell him his fault. If he hears you, if he owns his fault, seeks forgiveness and you confer it. How many times am I to do that with my brother?

28:04 Up to seven times.

28:07 Now, where did he come up with the number seven? Well, there was an existence. There was an existing rabbinic tradition in Peter's day. And it may be that Peter was aware of it.

28:18 One of the well-known rabbis wrote these words. If a man commits a transgression, the first, second, and third time he is forgiven. The fourth time he is not forgiven. End quote.

28:33 And some conjecture that that may have been taken from the book of Amos, where you remember the motif. The way Amos lays out his prophecy is, For three sins of, yea, for four. Then judgment will come. And they think that maybe the rabbis with their numerical legalistic mentality seized on that and said, See that?

28:52 Even God says three times I'll forgive you. But the fourth time I'm going to zap you and you're going to get it. So that's how we're to deal with one another. So whether that was in Peter's mind, we don't know.

29:01 What we know is he comes and says, Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Up to the point of the seventh extension of forgiveness? Then no more?

29:15 What was he doing? Most likely, he was taking the rabbinic tradition, doubling it, and adding one to bring it to the number of completion. And most likely, I can't be dogmatic, most likely, he really thought, I'm shooting kind of high. Maybe the Lord will stroke me a little bit for this.

29:36 I know rabbis would say three times, add one, four. But Lord, I'm saying seven times?

29:43 That's the initiating question by Peter. And now notice, the initial response of our Lord. Verse 22. Jesus said unto him, I say unto you, I say not unto you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.

30:05 Now some conjecture that it ought to be read seventy plus seven. But seventy times seven does seem to be the linguistic thrust of what our Lord said. So our Lord's initial response is to say, Peter, not up to the seventh time, but until 490 times. Now what was our Lord doing?

30:29 He was doing what we mean when we say, fight fire with fire. Do you know where that metaphor came from? Firefighters at times, when there's a raging forest fire, and they see the direction it's going, the way they try to stop it is to light a fire to establish a path of charred over land that when the forest fires, the fire reaches there, it has to stop. It has nothing to consume, no more combustible material.

30:57 So you fight fire with fire? Jesus is fighting the numerical concept of forgiveness with numbers. He's fighting Peter's numbers with his own numbers. He says, Peter, you want to think about forgiveness in terms of numbers?

31:12 I'll give you some numbers.

31:15 490. Can you imagine? That must have struck Peter. Lord, my brother sinned again, I forgive him up to seven times.

31:25 Peter, you want to play with numbers? I'll give you some numbers. 490.

31:30 70 times seven. That is our Lord's initial response. And what is he doing? Is he actually telling Peter, go get yourself a little notebook, Peter, because you can't remember.

31:43 You can remember up to seven times. Your memory will hold that, but 490 times? You have to keep a little book, Peter. And every time it comes to, oh boy, we're all up to 235.

31:53 Boy, I've got a lot more to go. No, no. What he's getting through to Peter is, Peter, forgiveness is not a matter of numbers. Forgiveness is not a matter of a checklist.

32:05 Peter, forgiveness is not an action to be regulated by numbers in a checklist. It's a disposition to be maintained and exercised whenever and wherever and how many times it is needed. That's what he said. He's saying to Peter, Peter, your whole thinking about forgiveness is in the wrong category.

32:31 You've got it in the category of numbers. You're thinking like a Pharisee. You've got it in an area of external, calculable grace. But it's not in that realm, Peter.

32:45 Forgiveness is to be a disposition of the heart. And whenever that disposition needs to be an exercise, it's in the presence of a sinning brother. One time, two times, times without number, Peter, forgiveness is not a matter of a numbers game. It's not a scorecard issue.

33:09 It's a way of life with its roots in the heart. That's the note on which our Lord ends this whole section. If ye forgive. Not everyone is brother from your hearts.

33:24 It is a heart issue. Well, having looked at the initiating question of Peter, the initial response of our Lord, now we come thirdly to the expanded and illustrated reinforcement of our Lord, starting in verse 23. The expanded and illustrated reinforcement of our Lord.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: King's Mercy to a Great Debtor

33:46 Therefore, you see, therefore, in the light of what I've told you, Peter, in the light of seeking by fighting fire with fire, your numbers with my numbers, to emphasize that your thinking is altogether skewed, therefore, the kingdom of heaven is likened. Peter, wherever my reign of grace comes to the heart of a man, woman, boy, or girl, wherever there is a community of those who have come under the impress, and the dynamics, and the power of the reign of grace, Peter, this is what you're going to find operative that illustrates that forgiveness is not a matter of a numbers game, but a disposition of the heart. And so he sets before Peter and the others this parable. Now, I want to say just a word about any parable. When you're studying a parable, remember, there are these two things.

34:53 There is a central lesson to be taught in a parable. And therefore, when we study it, there's a central lesson to be sought. A parable is given to underscore a central lesson. Jesus is going to underscore the lesson about forgiveness.

35:10 That it's not a checklist issue. It's a heart issue. It's a dispositional issue. There's the central lesson that he's teaching.

35:19 That's the lesson to be sought. A parable is not an allegory where every little element and every person in it has some meaning and significance by the intention of the author. And furthermore, it is not necessary to sort out all of the historical cultural monetary issues in the parable in order to understand the thrust of that parable. Now, some of you are going to be terribly frustrated with me because as we go through, you've got active minds and that's good.

35:51 I'm glad you study your Bible. With an active mind, you want to know who are these servants with all these bucks? Where'd they get them? Why is it called the loan in one part and called the debt in another?

36:04 Where'd they get all those mega bucks? How much exactly is a talent and how much do you calibrate 10,000 talents is? And I'm going to disappoint you. I'm not going to tell you because I can't tell you.

36:17 There's no way that you can come up with precise equivalence. Is it a Hebrew talent? Is it an attic or Greek? Talent?

36:26 Was it a talent of gold? The talent of silver? A talent of some other precious man? It doesn't tell us.

36:30 And we don't need to know all of those details. So don't get hung up. I'm going to exercise the discipline of exclusion as I go through. I've not excluded it in my study.

36:34 I could stand up here for two hours and tell you a lot of interesting things, but it wouldn't be edifying and it wouldn't be necessary to get the lesson. All right? So when you study parables, remember that central lesson is being taught. The central lesson is to learn the lesson.

36:39 The central lesson is to learn the lesson. And the lesson is to learn the lesson. And the lesson is to learn the lesson. And the lesson is to learn the lesson.

36:43 And the lesson is to learn the lesson. The lesson is to watch the lesson. And I am going to exercise my discipline of exclusion as I go through. I've not excluded it in my study.

36:47 I could stand up here for two hours and tell you a lot of interesting things, but it wouldn't be edifying and it wouldn't be necessary to get the lesson. All right? So when you study parables, remember that central lesson is being taught. The central lesson is to be sought.

36:56 A lot of the details rooted in first century Palestinian life under Roman rule have no real one to one equivalent for us. We've got to say enough to help us understand the major components so we get the message. And that's what I'm determined to do, and we're going to do it under the four natural headings that are in the text notice first of all we have the king's forgiving mercy to a great debtor the king's forgiving mercy to a great debtor verses 23 to 27 therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened it's likened unto a certain king who would make a reckoning of his servants and when he'd begun to reckon one was brought to him that owed him 10 000 talents before as much as he had not wherewith 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 the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying lord have patience with me and i'll pay you all the lord of that servant being moved with compassion released him and forgave him the debt so here is the king's forgiving mercy to a great debtor it was a certain king who had entrusted the management of massive the the sums of money to some of his servants perhaps like satraps men who were underlings like governors

38:19 over a large area and often they would have the responsibility of collecting the taxes and what the specifics are we don't know but all we know is that these servants were entrusted by the king with large sums of money and a certain time came in the greek is emphatic the king determined to conduct an auditing of the books of all of these servants all of these satraps and he sent out his official cpas and said hey boys check the books i want a strict accounting and as they're doing their job a certain man is found a certain servant look at the text and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him maybe this guy was fearful to come prehistoric hey and he it and look

39:26 it well list he he had a whether it was a Greek talent, that when you have 10,000 talents, you are talking about millions of dollars. Possibly even tens of millions of dollars. But safely at least 10 to 12 million dollars in today's currency. You say, well how in the world?

40:05 That's irrelevant. The Lord is teaching a lesson. This guy is a big time debtor. He comes before the king and the books are clear.

40:15 They say, hey buddy, you owe the king however he was supposed to have that money. I don't know. The Lord doesn't tell me and I could care less. All I know is he is megabucks in debt.

40:28 Now you kids, sometimes when I sit at my study, I do funny things. And I have a little calculator that sits to the right of where I rest my books. And I said, well let's assume that the 10,000 talents was the minimal amount. 10 to 12,000 dollars.

40:43 I went downstairs and got my wallet and I measured a dollar bill. It's almost exactly six inches long. So I started doing a little fiddling with my calculator. You know what this guy owed?

40:56 You know how much money he owed? If you started at the George Washington Bridge, Route 80, and started laying one dollar bills end to end,

41:07 you know how much he owed? He'd lay the bills all the way out through this part of Jersey, all the way out to Delaware, Washington, and New York. All the way out to Delaware, Washington, and New York. All the way across Pennsylvania, all 360 miles.

41:23 All the way across Ohio.

41:27 All the way across Indiana. And when you got about 20 miles south of Chicago, you'd still have a whole wheelbarrow full of money.

41:37 He owed lots of bucks, kids.

41:40 One dollar bills. You'd like to have me just do that from here to the back of the auditorium and say they're all yours. You figure out. Some of you are going to be just perverse enough.

41:50 You're going to go home with your calculator. And check me out. I checked it two to three times. All right?

41:55 So I know I'm right on this. Nobody's going to cut anything past there. People just love to nail me on matters like that. I don't know why.

42:03 It's like finding me in grammatical mistakes. They get some kind of sick jolly out of nailing me with a grammatical mistake. I guess it's because I pick on everyone else for theirs. So I deserve it.

42:15 But I don't pick on matters with money. But to give you some sense of it, think of how much this man owed. Dollar bills. It's laid out from the George Washington Bridge all the way across Jersey.

42:24 All the way across Pennsylvania. All the way across Ohio. All the way across Indiana. All the way to Chicago.

42:32 This guy had a master.

42:37 And he owns it. He has no excuse for being in that condition. So what does he do? Verse 25.

42:45 For as much as he had not wherewith to pay, here's the Lord, the King's initial response. His Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his children and all that he had and paid for it. And he paid for it. And he paid for it.

42:57 And he paid for it. And he paid for it. And he paid for it. The initial response of the King was one that was legitimate in that framework.

43:03 We might question the morality of it, but it was legitimate. He could have sold the man and his family into slavery, auctioned off all that he had, and obviously this could never begin to pay the tithe of the tithe of a tithe of that massive debt. And when the servant realized, hey, the King is going to hold me accountable for my debt, what did he do? Look at the text.

43:28 Verse 26. When the servant knew the debt was his, when he knew he was accountable to pay the debt, when he knew it would be impossible to pay the debt, the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay you all. What an overstatement. Have patience with me and I'll pay you all.

43:52 At least it reflects the disposition of his heart. I recognize it's a bona fide debt, but have patience with me. Now maybe this was within the realm of possibility. You see, it could have been the mismanagement of funds.

44:04 It could have been something like our stock market where if things turned around, he would be able to have incremental sums. I don't know. But all I know is he falls down before him and says, look, don't throw me into prison. Don't sell my wife and my kids and my goods and liquidate it all and throw them into prison with me.

44:24 Have patience with me. Show something of a difference. Disposition other than strict justice. Have patience with me and I'll pay you all.

44:34 Verse 27. Three verbs show what the king did in response to that plea. And the Lord of that servant being moved with compassion. This word that is an untranslatable word.

44:53 Splachnizomai. Hard to say it.

44:58 Splachnizomai. You go from a...

45:00 If you've got it pronounced down here. Our Greek fans know. I did pretty good this morning. Yeah, they're shaking their heads.

45:10 Moved in his bowels. It means something grips you deep down in the deepest recesses of the soul. Here in your gut you're moved when he sees this man prostrate before him owning the reality of his debt, his culpability for the debt, and he's crying, I'll have patience with me. I'll pay you all.

45:35 The first thing that happens is something happens in his heart. Not his accounting books.

45:44 In his heart. Moved with compassion. Second verb. It says he released him.

45:52 Apparently it already had him apprehended. Maybe his court soldiers already had this guy in manacles ready to haul him off. He released him. Released him.

46:03 And he did all of that. To this end. He canceled the debt.

46:08 He said it's canceled. All the mega-buck debt is absolutely, totally canceled. That's it. That's the king's forgiving mercy to a great debtor.

46:20 You got the picture of it? Alright, second thing. The servant's lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. That's what follows in the text.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: Servant's Lack of Mercy to a Minor Debtor

46:29 The servant's lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. Verses 28 to 30. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hold on him, took him by the throat, saying, pay what you owe.

46:49 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay you. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay all that was due. Here's the servant's lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. No sooner is he released and forgiven his debt and probably our Lord wants us to think he's thinking now about debts and paying back debts and being unable to pay debts and because his mind now is thinking in the debtor's mind he says, oh, I have a fellow servant.

47:29 One of my kind. Oh yes, I've just come from the presence of the king. Not one of my kind. One of God's.

47:36 Of my kind. The sovereign ruler in the realm.

47:41 I have one of my kind who owes me the equivalent of a hundred days wages of the average laboring man. A denarii was a good day's wage for a laborer, for a soldier. So a hundred would be a hundred working days. In today's market, we're talking about several thousands of dollars.

48:04 And he thinks of this fellow servant. He says, ah, I remember. He owes me such and such amount of money. For what?

48:12 We don't know. How he came into that indebtedness? We don't know. All we know is that the forgiven servant has a fellow servant.

48:21 He finds him the one who owes him a hundred denarii. And what does he do? The language is brutal. He seized him.

48:30 He didn't just go and say, hey fellow, look, have you forgotten your debt to me? Can we sit down and talk about an equitable way to deal with this matter? He seizes him. The picture is, he goes and grabs him by the back of the neck and the seat of the britches and says, we're going to deal with this.

48:46 The next thing you know, he's got his hands around his throat. And the imperfect tense is used. He begins to be choking him.

48:57 This is R-rated stuff, folks. Jesus is describing this servant who has a lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. He's just had all this debt canceled. And he goes out and finds this man with this piddling debt, trying to think of some imagery.

49:18 This is the only one that came to my mind. He's had his matter horn of debt removed. And now he finds a man with a molehill debt. And he's going to hold him to it.

49:34 Bucko, you owe me 100 denarii. Pay up. What does the man do? His fellow servant, with echoes that are so, so resonant with his own words.

49:50 Look at the text. Verse 29, his fellow servant fell down. And again, an imperfect tense, which is past action that is repeated. His fellow servant fell down and was continually beseeching him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay you.

50:08 He heard his own words coming back in his ear. Isn't that what he said to the king? Verse 26, the servant fell down. Worship him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay you all.

50:21 Now he hears a fellow servant, not a servant to a king, but a servant to a fellow servant, saying to him, have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he was absolutely, resolutely unwilling. Verse 30, and he would not. But he went and again, vigorous language, didn't say he just put him in prison.

50:46 He cast him, cast him into prison. That's the word you'd use if you were casting something away, throwing something away. He cast him into prison and not only cast him into prison, but he says, you're going to be there in debtor's prison till you pay that which was due.

51:07 Now that's the account our Lord gives of the servant's lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. Now we come thirdly in the parable to the king's treatment of the ungrateful. The unforgiving servant. Verses 31 to 4.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: King's Treatment of the Unforgiving Servant

51:23 So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry. And they came and told their Lord all that was done. They snitched. Yeah, they did.

51:39 And this poor, perverted, morally skewed generation that can spill out all kinds of filth without shame. Let someone tell on another and he's ashamed. Snitch. There are times when snitching is the only righteous thing to do.

51:58 They snitched on him. They went to the king. More than one. The mouth of two or three witnesses.

52:04 Every word was established. And they called the king. And they did it. Not out of spite to that unmerciful servant, but out of grief to the one who was the object of his lack of mercy.

52:19 It says they were exceeding sorry. The Lord didn't have to put that stroke in there, but he did. And they came and told their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord called him unto him and said unto him.

52:33 Now notice what the king does. He summons him into his presence. The Lord called him unto him. Secondly, he identifies him as a wicked man.

52:47 You wicked servant. And then he reminds him of two things. First, what the king had done to him when he sought mercy. You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you besought me.

53:05 So he reminds him of what he had done when he sought mercy. And secondly, he reminds him of the moral obligation this laid on him to do to his fellow servant what the king had done to him. Look at the language. Should you not, should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant?

53:27 And here it's difficult to translate the Greek into English, but here's the thrust of the language used. Were you not under a solemn moral obligation? That's the thrust of the language. Were you not, should you not, were you not under strict moral obligation to have mercy on your fellow servant even as I had mercy on you?

53:52 So he summons, he brings him into his presence, addresses him as a wicked man, reminds him of these two things. He then delivers him to the tormentors laden with the full debt he owed to the king. And his lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due. He's now handed over to strict justice.

54:22 Every single dollar bill, from the George Washington Bridge to the loop in Chicago plus some more. Who are the tormentors? We don't know. And the commentators speculate and I laugh.

54:38 If we needed to know, the Lord would tell us. One thing is clear. He's going to be tormented. He's going to be punished for his lack of mercy to his fellow servant.

54:51 And that tormenting will go on until he should pay all that was due. In turn, in terms of temporal existence, he'd be tormented for the rest of his days. That's what the king did to him. So we looked at the four divisions in the text.

The Central Lesson of the Parable: The Damning Nature of Unforgiveness

55:09 The king's forgiving mercy to a great debtor. The servant's lack of forgiving mercy to a minor debtor. The king's treatment of the unforgiving servant. Now the fourth.

55:20 I'm sorry, we've covered three. The fourth is, what is the central lesson of the parable? And I bless God that this is one of those I don't need to read. I don't need to read 10, 12 commentaries and then make a decision which one persuades me.

55:34 I've got the words of Jesus to tell me. What's the central lesson of the parable? Here it is. So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if you do not forgive every one his brother from your hearts.

55:55 Very interesting. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus had used the term, my Father in heaven, promising answers to prayer. Verse 19, if two of you shall agree on earth, is touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven, the gracious, beneficent, open-handed, large-hearted Father who gives to his children as they symphonize in prayer. That same Father, Jesus said, my Father, in righteous, unsullied anger, will take any one of you, he's speaking to his disciples, and he will deliver you to the eternal tormentors, if you refuse forgiveness from the heart to anyone who is in need of that forgiveness. I tell you that's serious business. And as we'll see God willing tonight, it grieves me. It grieves me deeply that in my preparation to come across two contemporary mighty, greatly used men of God who commenting on this passage say, well,

57:23 the delivering to the tormentors is just a Christian delivered to chastisement. Because you see, if you're forgiven, you can't be unforgiven. And they try to read in the doctrine of justification into the parable. And they say, how could that servant have all his debt forgiven and then be delivered to the tormentors if delivering to the tormentors is a picture of hell?

57:46 Because we believe the Bible teaches once in grace, always in grace, and no one believes that more strongly than I do. But the point is this. If you're in grace, you'll manifest grace. And one of the indispensable manifestations of grace is the prevailing disposition of forgiveness.

58:06 And without that prevailing disposition of forgiveness, your heart has never come to a believing internal appropriation of God's for it is morally and ethically impossible to stand before the king of the universe with the debt that is incalculable and have him say, my son, my daughter, my sins are forgiven for Jesus. Say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't forget your sins are beyond your promises in practice.

58:41 Also, next time you take his last breath, he Мount Everest for the nation worship about his sanctification, the Matterhorn versus full faith prayer him and there. The Matterhorn, the Mount Everest of my sin swallowed up the ocean of his atoningOFFice. How can I go out and take a fellow sinner and wrap my fingers around his throat metaphorically and say, I won't forget how to forgive me, or can I end my life for you? The king of the world, or can I end my life for me?

59:08 He was his next servant, or can I end my life? Did he love me? of the principle that I want us to grasp this morning with very little detailed application. That must wait for tonight as I have three categories of crucial practical application.

59:25 But we've got to come to grips with the principle that if I am truly forgiven by God, I will be forgiving of my fellow man. The prevailing disposition of my heart will be one of forgiveness to others. Yes, there may be as there can be in any area of ethical and moral aberration the believer falling into a sin of bitterness and unforgiveness as a true believer may fall into a sin of uncleanness and of lying and a host of any other sin. The Bible is clear.

60:07 But if the prevailing disposition of the heart is one of unforgiveness, that heart has never been transformed by the grace of God and renewed by the Holy Spirit. That heart has never been melted before the wonderful display of the King of the universe for Jesus' sake saying, the Matterhorn, the Mount Everest of your guilt and debt is swallowed up in the virtue, the virtue of the death of my son.

60:47 So sitting here today, if you get nothing else, tell yourself, as surely as the Bible says, no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of heaven. If adultery is a way of life for you, you're going to hell. I don't care what you've professed. I don't care how many tingles you had up and down your spine fifty times.

61:07 It matters not. My Bible is clear. No adulterer shall enter the kingdom of heaven. No liar shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

61:14 Adultery. Lying. Murder. Thievery.

61:17 Uncleanness. Homosexuality. All of those sins are clearly identified if they're a way of life and you don't repent, you're going to hell, my friend. Put in that category.

61:29 If an unforgiving spirit is a way of life, you're going to hell.

61:36 If I persuade you of nothing else from the Bible this morning, I hope I persuade you of that. From the clear and repeated articulation of our Lord, from the clear and vivid illustration of our Lord, do not carry the name of Christian if you carry it with a heart whose prevailing disposition is hard and unforgiving. These words should never be on the lips of any true believer. I could never forgive that.

62:13 I can never forgive him for that. I can never forgive him for that. I could never forgive her for that.

62:27 We'll see tonight how the gospel percolating in our souls produces this. I hope I've accomplished my goal this morning. Persuade you of the principle so that none of you will ever be comfortable that an unforgiving spirit is something that you can tolerate with anything approaching peace in your heart. Let's pray.

Prayer and Conclusion

62:56 Lord Jesus, we're so thankful that you have spoken so clearly, so repeatedly on this vital issue. Help us to embrace your truth. We pray that even now for any who sit among us who are hard-hearted and unforgiving, O God, break them down in the face of their infinite debt and bring them broken, penitent, to the one who stands ready to forgive the 10,000 talents of their debt. O God, we thank you for forgiving mercy.

63:36 May that mercy so fill our souls that whatever else we are, we may be a forgiving people. Seal your word and bless it to our good and to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.