11-6-22 - Forgive Us As We Forgive Others

Your Bible, if you would look with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 6, and we're going to read verse 9 to verse 15, if you would honor the Word of God with me, we'll stand and read those verses, Matthew chapter 6 verse 9 through 15.

If you'd read along with me in these verses as well, the Bible says in verse 9, after this manner therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Let's pray together. We do come to you, Father, this morning and we are so blessed to know that you are our Father in heaven.

Some today have great fathers and some have no fathers who've invested in their lives, but praise God through the blood of Christ we have a heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. And so we come as your children rejoicing before you, singing praises to the name which is above all names. And God as we come today we know our lives are not innocent. We know that we need mercy and grace and I praise you for the grace that you offer us through the blood of Jesus Christ. And I pray that you would do a work today in this service, Lord. Help us to understand the importance of forgiveness. Help us to apply these truths with humility. Help us to have ears to hear and may we have humility to receive and apply all that we hear today. And if anyone doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray today would be the day that they would come and trust in the Lord as their savior.

We ask it in Christ's name and God's people said then you may be seated this morning. We live in a day when the epidemic of cancer has really touched the lives of everybody. If you have someone in your family or someone you know that has cancer, would you just raise your hand just to give an idea of the impact that that has had?

And with each hand that went up there were tears in our lives weren't there? There was pain and suffering and heartache and rightfully so because of the weight of that. But there is also an epidemic that is worse in many ways than that of cancer. It is a type of infection that the victim once infected with will impact every area of their life. Where cancer can cause a family to come together, this type of disease has the power to tear a family apart. Where cancer causes people to show their love, this disease, this infection would cause people to show anger, hate and bitterness. It has been an infectious disease. It has been the source of ruin for so many family relationships. It devastates marriages.

It separates the closest of friends and tears family unity apart and we call it unforgiveness. In our verse study of the gospel of Matthew, we now come to this section of scripture known as the Lord's Prayer. He gives us six petitions that we are called to specifically pray for. And the first three have to do with our relationship with God.

The next three have to do with things in our own lives. The first is to pray that God's name would be exalted. This is a time of worship. We should enter into prayer with worship after this manner.

He says, pray our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, exalted be thy name. We should enter into God's presence in prayer with a worshipful spirit. Secondly, our request would be that God's kingdom would come. And that's saying, God, let your rule come.

Wherever the kingdom of God is, the Greek word bacilia, it's the rule of the king and wherever the king is, is where his rule is. And one day he's going to set his kingdom up on Earth. But until then, his kingdom is spiritual. And so we pray that God, let your kingdom come in the hearts of men. Let souls be saved.

Let souls follow you in submission and in honor of you to live a sanctified life. And so we pray that his kingdom would come. And then we pray for his will to be done, that prayer is not something that we try to twist God into getting on board with us, but rather prayer is us getting on board with God. And so we pray for God's will to be done.

And it is only when we get things right vertically do we get things right horizontally. When we see God correctly, can we see ourselves correctly? So we come and then we are to pray the second set of prayer requests, which the first is to do with provision in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. And I pray and trust that this last week that all of us were more sensitive about what we have. You know, we don't always have to say, God, give us this day enough food to eat. But the prayer for provision is that God would give us clothing, shelter, food, health, and all those physical provisions. And praise God that he cares about that.

Amen. And he was writing this to people who were in need of daily food many times and he cared about those physical needs. And so he addresses that because you need to have a physical body and health to be able to serve God with in that capacity. And so we are to pray for that. And for us many times, it's not God, give us enough food to eat today, but it's God, help us not to eat so much, right? But we need to say, God, thank you for those provisions because all that we have has come from a hand, the hand of a benevolent God. Amen. So we should come worshipful.

The second request is what we come to today and it is the fifth petition here. And it is a spiritual request as Jesus moves from the physical to the spiritual. And it is a request for forgiveness. We need food to live physically and we need forgiveness to live spiritually on earth. There really should not be anyone who is quicker to forgive than the believer.

We should be the quickest ones to take that step. But we all know forgiveness can be a struggle, right? We all understand the difficulty that that can be the battle of harboring bitterness and unforgiveness and resentments. So many people are imprisoned by unforgiveness and they don't realize the person that they resent is actually their jail keeper.

My prayer today is that God's word would open the prison door and set the captives of unforgiveness free, that God would show you and I the truth of unforgiveness from his word and how we need this in our lives. I want to jump into this this morning and the first thing we come to is in verse number 12 is the presumption of guilt that Christ lays upon us. He says and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. For Jesus to make this a centerpiece in our prayer reveals the fact that we need forgiveness. It assumes that we will sin. To need forgiveness assumes that we will be guilty of sinning. What is the greatest need that man has?

The greatest need that we would have above all things is that we would have our sins forgiven. Ultimately most people in our day do not realize the amount of sin that they have committed against God. And to the person who doesn't believe they need forgiveness, Charles Spurgeon writes very clearly. He says, Dear one, look at your own heart. I will have no argument with you.

Take the bandage off your eyes. You are about as full of sin as an egg is of protein. Among the rest of your many sins is this rotten egg of an accursed pride about your own state of heart. And the people that don't think they need forgiveness are the ones who have probably the most sin in their life. I want to start by allowing scripture to examine our lives to see if we have violated God's holy law. I've had people through the years and there are even churches in Xenia that teach that you can become sinless. And I believe as a Christian, you should be able to sin less and less as you follow in obedience to Christ. But believe me, you will not become sinless this side of heaven. And if you could become sinless, there wouldn't be verse 12.

But Jesus includes this as a natural part of our prayer because he knows sinning will be the struggle of our life. So what is sin? What is sin?

And how would you define it? Well, the Bible gives us the answer in 1 John three four. It says, whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law for sin is the transgression of the law. If you go fifty five and a thirty five, you have violated a law here in the state of Ohio.

For that, you will face a consequence. And when we break God's laws, it is called sin. And some of the God's laws are laid out in the Old Testament, such as the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20, verse three gives us the first of the Ten Commandments. And God says thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Jesus summarizes this in Matthew twenty two, verse thirty seven, when he says thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Let me ask you, friend, today, how often do you believe that you have broken this command, that you did not have God number one in your life? If you've ever broken that command, would you just raise your hand as a reality of that?

So we have we have been guilty of that. That's called idolatry because we put something in front of God, right? The second command that God comes to is Exodus 20, verse four. He says, do not make any graven image and then worship those images. And the reason for this is man is uncapable of creating anything, first of all, that would reflect the glory of God. A monkey would have no great ability to make a beautiful canvas and a painting any more than we would be able to create some image that would reflect the glory of God. We would always take away from his glory with some kind of image. It would degrade the image of God. But today, often it's not a physical image that happens around the world at times, but it is a carved image inside of the heart of man.

And it sounds something like this. People say, well, I believe God is and then they begin to define God based upon what they think he is. And they're carving out an image of God that usually looks like themselves. And that, my friend, is called idolatry. And if you've ever done that before, would you raise your hand if you've defined God in some way that didn't accurately reflect him?

And we've done that. God says in Psalms 50, verse 21, he says thou thought that I was altogether such as one as thyself. Isaiah 55, eight and nine. God says for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither of my ways, your way, say the Lord for as the heaven is higher than the earth or my thoughts and your thoughts and my ways and your ways.

God so far exceeds us. The third command in Exodus 20, verse seven says, do not take the name of the Lord in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. And that doesn't mean simply taking God's name with a cuss word, which that is blasphemy. But it's also taking God's name in a way that doesn't honor God. And so if you ever say God's name in a way that doesn't reflect on God to lift him up, that's taking his name in vain. You you smashed your hand, you drop a plate and you use God's name in vain. That's that's blasphemy. God says you will be guilty of that. Anybody ever taking God's name in vain at some point in your life? And so we see that we're we're three for three right now, right? Say, could you please stop?

No, I won't. The fourth command is given in the Old Testament. And it says to honor the Sabbath day and the Sabbath in the Old Testament was designed by God to be the seventh day of the week, to reflect on God as the creator. God set aside a day not because he needed rest, but because we need rest. And he said, work six days, rest on the seventh.

And he gave it as a gift to mankind. And the New Testament people say, well, why don't we why don't we worship on the Sabbath? Why don't we worship on Saturday now? Why, you know, some groups like the Seventh Day Seventh Day Venice, they'll worship on Saturdays and say, if you don't do that, you could lose your salvation.

We disagree. We don't agree with that because the Bible doesn't agree with that. You need to know that nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. Have you ever wondered why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday? I will tell you not one time does the New Testament tell us to worship on the Saturday. Not one time does the New Testament say to observe the Sabbath. In fact, Colossians two sixteen tells us not to have to be held to those things and be judged by Sabbath days anymore.

The Sabbath was such a priority in the Old Testament, it's never even reiterated to do in the New Testament. Now our day to set aside to focus on God is not as creator, but as the one who rose from the dead, because that's the greater work. And so when a Saturday comes around, we should say, you know what, I worship you today as the one who created. But the church gathers on Sunday as a day reflected upon Christ who rose from the dead. But in the New Testament, we are to honor the Lord's Day, which is on Sunday now. Hebrews ten twenty five says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. So let me exhort you as this verse says, don't forsake the assembling of the body of believers together. When the church assembles, you need to be there physically.

I'm thankful for those who are watching online. We have people that are homesick today, some that are not able to come because of health issues. Some people who travel, I was talking to a couple this last week and they were out of state and they said, we've got to listen to your sermon and watch it while we were way. And I said, praise God, that's a blessing.

But if you're healthy and you're close enough, you need to be here. Church is the body of believers gathered together. That's a command from the word of God. You need to be there.

You need to assemble together. And because you're not honoring me, you're not honoring the people. You're honoring Jesus Christ. And if he rose from the dead, surely we can rise out of bed.

I'll stop there. Number five, fifth command says, honor your parents. Anybody ever dishonored your parents before? Everybody's like, raise your hand, son and daughter, right?

And they're like, you keep your hand up, mom and dad. Right. Number six was thou shall not kill. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you killed somebody. But the Bible does say anger is in our heart is like murder.

And so has anybody ever had anger in their heart towards someone? Then we would be guilty of that command. The seventh command is do not commit adultery. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you've committed adultery. But the Bible says if you look on someone with lust after you're in your heart, according to Matthew's gospel, chapter number five, then we've committed adultery in our heart. Anybody ever looked with lust before? OK, don't keep your hands down.

Don't be lying to me. You're like my my wife or my husband sitting next to me. Quite frankly, I understand. Number eight, it says, do not steal. The Bible says, do not steal. You ever taken something in your life that didn't belong to you at some point?

Absolutely. You say, I've never stole. I could take you back to your toddler days, three or four years old. I guarantee you did. Number nine says, do not lie. Who's ever told a lie before?

Now that we got that straight, you better put your hand up on all of these because you're a liar. Well, right. And then number 10 says, do not covet. Anybody ever coveted something that you wanted that somebody else had. And so maybe that's their possessions, their physical, their finances, whatever it is. And so maybe even their health. So as we look at these, I'm batting 10 for 10 right now.

That's not good batting right now. Right. And the question is, if you and I stood before God based on just these commands, then would we be guilty?

And the answer is yes. That's why the Bible says in Romans 3 19. Now whatsoever things are written in the law, it says now we know what things whoever were written the law say if it say to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be guilty before God. Had somebody in the early service said, we're not under the law. We're under grace. You are not under the law if you're under grace. But if you're not under grace, get what you're under. You're under the law. These things save whoever save the law.

Now we know what things whoever the law say, say to them who are under the law, that every mouth will be stopped. If you don't come under the grace of Christ, you will stay under the law of God. Romans 3 23 says all have sinned come short of the glory of God.

So what are you going to? How are you going to get rid of your sin? What are you going to offer God to pay your sin debt? People say, well, I'll do good works and pay it off with my good works. And Romans 3 12 says there's none that do with good.

No, not one people say. Well, I'll offer God some righteous deeds, such as taking communion, the Eucharist or I'll be baptized or I'll I'll take some kind of a good work from the Bible. Well, the Bible says in Romans 3 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. So where does that leave us? Ephesians 2 12 says that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. You know what the definition of hopelessness is, is godlessness.

When you're without Christ, you have no hope. So if we're found guilty before God, what would be the outcome on Judgment Day? The last book of the Bible tells us very clearly, friends. Revelation 21 verse eight says the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers. Then it says idolaters, which that's what we are. We raised our hand on the first one. And then it says and all what? Liars. And that that's on the 10th one.

What's it say? It's going to happen. We will have our part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. You break enough laws in town, you know what the judgment is going to be when you stand before the judge. If you knew you were guilty going to that court date standing before the judge and you knew you deserve the death penalty. And you knew that was justice. The only thing you could plead for at that point is be merciful to me. Then give me what I don't deserve.

Give me mercy. And you understand that that's where man is left. The point I'm trying to make this morning.

You say you're doing a good job of making me feel bad this morning. My point is not to make you feel bad. My point is to show you man's greatest need is not financial. Man's greatest need is not health care. It's not educational. It's not political.

Our greatest need is forgiveness. An epitaph from a headstone in New York, a large headstone. We don't know who it was.

It was buried there. It doesn't give a birth date. It doesn't give a death date. Doesn't say the beloved son or beloved daughter, beloved husband or wife.

It doesn't say any of that. There's just one word inscribed across that headstone and it says forgiven. Somebody felt the greatest thing that had ever happened to their life. The greatest thing they wanted to be defined by was that they were forgiven. Friend, our greatest need this morning is forgiveness.

You and I must understand that. And so Jesus assumes our guilt. And so he says in your prayer, you need to understand you need forgiveness. Secondly, we see the provision of God's forgiveness.

Not only does the petition call us to presume that we're guilty, but it also gives us the overwhelming joy that lets us know that God is willing to forgive. God is willing to forgive. Now what does God's forgiveness mean? The word forgive comes from the Greek word, ephemeri, and it means to send away. It was the same word used in Matthew eight verse fifteen when Jesus Christ healed Peter's mother-in-law and sent away the disease. It's the same word used when Jesus cast demons out of people. He would ephemeri their disease.

He would send it away. It's defined like Psalms 103 12 as far as the east is from the west. So far, Heather removed our transgressions from us. It also means to completely cancel a debt. Why are they referred to as debts? The word debt is of Philema, and it speaks of that which is owed a debt that needs to be paid. And according to the Bible, sins are moral and spiritual debts that we owe God and they must be paid. We know this is not referring to a financial debt because in Luke's account of the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11, he refers to them both as sins and as debts. The word sins in the Greek is hamardia.

It's where we get the word hamardiology from the study of sin in the area of theology, theological studies. But in Luke 11 verse four, he says it like this, and forgive us our sins, our hamardia, for we also forgive everyone that is of Philema to us or who has been indebted to us. So sin creates a moral and spiritual debt.

And Jesus is illustration of our need to be forgiving. He says in Matthew 18 27 that sin was like a debt to be paid. Our sin has caused us, friends, to be infinitely in debt to God. We have a incredible debt.

Anybody ever had you don't need to raise your hand, but just think about it. You ever had somebody you owed a lot of money to or a great debt? And every day you thought about that every day, the weight of that debt pressed down upon you every day.

The payment felt like it was just pressing upon you and you need to pay this debt and the fines are piling up and the interest is growing. You need and I need to understand that's what sin is, but infinitely more on us. If we could but grasp how heavy that sin is, how crushing the weight is upon us and we cannot pay them. We have no righteousness.

We have no good works to offer God. So how is forgiveness provided? Well, the Bible tells us payment must be made and God made a way for sins to be paid through an infinite, eternal, perfect sacrifice who was Jesus Christ. Matthew 121 says, and she shall bring forth his son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted God with us and that she shall bring for the son and she and I'm sorry, his name shall be called Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. Isaiah 53 six says in the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. First Peter 224 says who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness. First John one seven, the Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. Revelation one five unto him that loved us and washed us, it says from our sins in his blood. It's such an incredible reality when Jesus died on the cross, his last words were from a Greek word that it is translated in our English Bibles.

It is finished, but it can also be translated paid in full, paid in full. Jesus, his last words on the cross paid in full. He paid the debt that we owe to God. God's forgiveness of our sins mean God has sent our sins away. He canceled the debt that we owe him. He removed the offense. He no longer holds those sins against us. He's wiped the slate clean.

He's cast them as far as the East is from the West, not to be remembered anymore. Christ alone is the one time sacrifice that can take our sins away. That's why Jesus is the only way to heaven.

There is no other way. Christ alone saves. Acts four twelve says there's no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus said of himself, I am the way, the truth in life.

No one he says comes to the father, but by me. And so forgiveness is our greatest need. And forgiveness you need to understand is not based on something we earned or deserved. We cannot be earned or deserved from God based on our works, but rather God's forgiveness to us is based on the goodness of the giver, not the goodness of the recipient. How amazing is it that the greatest need we have, which is forgiveness God made possible to the greatest possible sacrifice he could ever give. And so thirdly, we see the prerequisite for forgiveness.

I'm going to say something that may seem somewhat for somewhat offensive, but I'm going to say it. I don't think there's anyone in this room that understands the weight of verse twelve. I think we we say verse twelve and perhaps we even pray verse twelve without understanding the magnitude of what we're saying.

I'm I'm I'm quite sure of that. I don't think we tremble enough when we come to the threshold of verse twelve. I think the rest of our lives when we come to verse twelve, we need to pause and we need to get on our faces, whether physically or in our own hearts and ponder deeply what we're about to say to God, because it's a big deal.

And let me tell you why. Verse twelve contains ten words. The sixth word in that verse is the little word as and that little comparative word there gives us the meaning of how and why God will forgive us. And really, there's a sense here that the believer sets the standard that God will then apply to the individual in this area of forgiveness. Basically, the essence of what we're praying in verse number twelve is this God deal with me, forgive me in the same way that I deal and forgive other people. God, I am asking you to grant me exactly what I'm granting other people in the area of forgiveness.

William Barkley writes of all petitions of the Lord's Prayer, this is the most frightening. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. The literal meaning is, he writes, forgive us our sins in proportion as we forgive those who have sinned against us. You need to understand today that if you pray these words while harboring an unforgiving spirit, you're literally asking God to bring judgment upon you. You're asking God to not forgive you. So this prayer of blessing has now become a prayer of indicting yourself. Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher said that if you pray the Lord's Prayer with an unforgiving spirit, you have virtually signed your own death warrant. That's why I say I don't think many of us understand the weight of what verse twelve is saying. And I pray this morning there would be a heightened renewal of this. Let me ask you, if you have bitterness and unforgiveness towards others, do you want God to treat you the same way you're treating them?

Because that's exactly what's going to happen. Think about the person that you're holding resentments toward, unforgiveness towards, bitterness towards. You say, Pastor Josh, you don't understand what they've done to me. I may not understand what they've done to you, but I understand what God's asking of us and I know what he's done for us. And so you and I need to understand, however, we treat other people who sin against us is exactly how God's going to treat us in our sins. And do you think, do you think what they've done to you is worse than what you and I have done to God?

I had somebody afterwards who lived through the Holocaust seasons of life over not not in Germany, but but under Hitler's thumb and in Europe. And they said after the early service, how on earth can I forgive someone like Adolf Hitler? I said, forgiveness doesn't mean people go unpunished.

Do you not think that Hitler's unpunished? What forgiveness is saying is, God, I don't hold the gavel in my hand anymore. I turn that over to you, God, you are the judge. And do you think God will render just judgment?

Do you think we can even hold judgment on our hand without corrupting our own souls? What a liberty forgiveness is, because it sets us free instead of being a slave to the person that we have been offended by. It was during one period of John Wesley's missionary life in the American colonies. But there was a general by the name of Oglethorpe with whom Wesley had some dealings.

General Oglethorpe was a great military leader, but he also had a reputation of being very harsh and brutal. One day he said to Wesley, I never forgive anyone. To which Wesley responded, well, then I hope you never sin. Because, friends, if you and I are unwilling to forgive, I can tell you you will never be forgiven. Those aren't my words. Those are the words of the loving Lord Jesus Christ.

So let's look at the penalty for unforgiveness. Look at verse 14 and 15. Notice out of six petitions written in verse nine through 13, there is only one that Jesus caps off. There is only one that Jesus says there needs to be another statement about that. There needs to be an additional follow up wording upon that.

And it's the fifth petition. He says, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. Read verse 15 with me if you would, please.

But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. We would think if we say say you never had the Bible. But you knew there was a God and you knew that judgment one day would come. And the question was asked and you were given a paper and a pen and you were asked, write down what do you think would be so evil? What would be so wretched that God would say, if you ever did that, you will not be forgiven for it? What would be the crime that would be so high and so exhaustive that God would say you will not be forgiven if you cross that line? What would be that sin? Some of us would say, well, it would be murder or it would be child abuse. It would be some kind of horrific thing. And we would all have different things.

Perhaps I think we would write down. I doubt any of us would say unforgiveness. But Jesus lists as the heinous crime that God says, I will not pardon your sins if you hold on to unforgiveness.

Wow. That's a pretty heavy statement, isn't it? Pretty heavy statement. Jesus goes on and gives an illustration of this in Matthew 18. You can hold your place here and flip over to Matthew 18. Matthew 18 with me. Jesus is here in Matthew 18 illustrating. The importance of forgiveness, and he says in Matthew 18, verse 23 and 24, he gives an illustration of a king and his servant.

He says, therefore, is the kingdom of heaven like and unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought into him, which showed him 10,000 talents. We don't understand how much 10,000 talents are when we read that on face value.

So let me explain just a little bit what that is. One talent was equal to 6000 denarii. The denarii was the payment that you would receive after working a normal day in that time in the world. So you'd work all day and you get one denarii. So you had to work 6000 days to earn one denarii 6000 days of work would be working six days a week for 19 years. So after you worked 19 years, six days a week took one day off, you would earn one talent. This man was indebted, not one talent, but 10,000 talents.

That's an insurmountable debt. I mean, what kind of fool was this guy? Like how did how do you even make that he had this, he had to rob the king's treasury to get in that kind of debt?

What did he do? And so because he could not pay it, he and his entire family would be sold and go into a debtor's prison. Matthew 1825, because they didn't have bankruptcy back then, that's how they would deal with you. It says for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. Does this man have the ability to pay the king?

Nope. It's no ability. He has nothing. And so with nothing, he can only offer what he can. And that is a plea for mercy. Then grant me a pardon. And he cries out in verse 26, the servant therefore fell down.

Worship is saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay the all. Well, that's crazy. You'll never see. Do you know how long it would take to pay 10,000? One town would take you 19 years.

10,000 towns would take you 190,000 years. How are you going to pay that back, Jack? Now, if your name's Jack today, I don't need a letter from you.

This message is not, you know, I could see it. I don't know any jacks right now in the church coming to mind, but I know my wife told him to preach on forgiveness, you know, and he's pulling my name out there similarly. Well, Jesus goes on and says that the king was moved with compassion toward this guy and did the unthinkable. Matthew 18, 27, then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, loosed him and forgave him the dead. He took the shackles off of him and his family because that's what bondage does. The sin that it puts you in shackles and he and he set the man in his family free. This is this is unbelievable. Jesus uses this guy's an illustration to show us friends the magnitude of the sin death that we owe God because none of us today understand how much we have offended God. We just don't get it. The Bible says it clearly in Psalms one or three ten that he has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

But the happy story takes a tragic turn. The man who received this forgiveness abuses it. He quickly finds a fellow servant that owed him 100 denarii.

100 denarii would be again, 100 days wage, which would be three to four months worth of income. This is not like frivolous. This is a pretty hefty. This is a really a hefty amount. I mean, this is a quarter of the year's earnings. It's owed to him. Sometimes people say, Oh, it's not a big deal. No, it was a big deal. It's a lot.

But compared to what 190,000 years, what's three months, right? So verse 28 tells us how he responds. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence and laid hands on him, took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou oweest. Pretty ungracious response.

How quickly. His gratitude turned into judgmentalism. The man falls down before him and says, have patience with me and I will pay the all. In verse 30, you would think the guy would say, well, because I've been shown so much mercy, I will guarantee you what has been granted to me. But that's not what happens.

Verse 30 says, and he would not. But went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. Was he legally allowed to do what he did? Yep. But was it morally offensive and evil?

Absolutely. Listen to what Jesus says happens next. Verse 31, it says, So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, oh, thou wicked servant. I forgave thee all that debt because thou desired it to me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. And his Lord was wrath. And delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. And Jesus ends it by saying so likewise, shall my heavenly father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses.

You get the point? How does Jesus refer to the Christian who is unwilling to forgive? He calls them a wicked servant. That's not you today, is it? Are you like the man who gladly receives forgiveness from God but then harbors bitterness towards others? What would God say about you today? Listen, don't be the person who would be willing and glad to receive the greatest of all forgiveness, but then turn around and get so offended at other people. You and I may be able to justify unforgiveness in your heart and mind and with one another, but do you think we're going to be able to justify our unforgiveness to God one day? To be unforgiving is the one thing Jesus says disqualifies us from being forgiven. Well, pastor, I thought that when I'm saved, all my sins are forgiven.

They are judicially. The Bible says we are forgiven. The moment of salvation, it is a judicial act of God whereby he declares the sinner righteous and it's all by grace and it's all by faith.

Your sins are removed. But the forgiveness that Jesus speaks of here is not judicial forgiveness. It's family forgiveness. It's relational forgiveness. When you get saved, God goes from being your judge to being your father.

The Christian then needs continual forgiveness to have a right relationship with our heavenly father. Hebrews 12, six says, For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? You can have a son or a daughter who is your family because they were born of you were born of God, were his children by blood. But your children could become distant with you if they lied to you and did sin against you and and that family relationship could be broken.

You could be distant from your son or your daughter, right? And that would need to be restored through repentance and through humility and seeking forgiveness. And so it is with our walk with God.

But friends, there are many consequences for unforgiveness. We grieve the Holy Spirit. We lose the blessing of God upon our lives. We instead incur his judgment. We become a slave to those who we hate. We live in the flesh instead of the spirit. Our prayers will be hindered according to Psalm 66, 18.

We open the door for Satan to get a foothold in our life. You know, the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter four, verse 26, Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

What happens if I let the sun go down upon my wrath? Let's read the next verse together. Neither give place to who? The devil. So when you and I go to bed angry, whether toward a spouse, whether toward a parent child, whether toward somebody else, we just allowed Satan to have a foothold in our life with that bitterness and anger and resentment to not forgive is to tell God, I would rather obey my hate for that person than your loving command to be unforgiving is to make the person you're unwilling to forgive have more control over your life than Jesus Christ has. But you don't know what they've done and you're right, I don't know what they've done. But all I know is that we've all sinned against God. A hundred and ninety thousand years worth of sin debt that he's been willing to forgive.

So whatever number of months of sin that somebody has sinned against us, friends, we need to get. Before God and say, Lord, let me forgive them just as you forgiven me. The most the place most people fail in this area of forgiveness is they base forgiveness on the person.

I've had people all through the year say stuff like this. Josh, if I go to them and I forgive them, then then they're going to throw it right in my face. They're not going to they're not going to accept it. Well, forgiveness is not based on how they accept it. Forgiveness can be totally one sided.

You just it needs to be you. However, they respond has nothing to do with it. And your forgiveness isn't based upon them. We don't forgive people based on their goodness. We forgive people based on Christ's goodness. Instead of them being a motivation not to forgive, let Christ be the motivation to forgive. Who do you love more your hate toward them or your love toward Christ?

That is the foundational reality. Jesus says, stop being a master to the one you hate and start being a master servant to the one you are called to love. I would say this forgiveness and unforgiveness says a whole lot more about us than it does about the person who offended us. If we're unwilling to forgive, it says a whole lot more about ours life than it does about their crime against us. You know, God did not forgive us based on our goodness. He based he forgave us based on his own goodness. The more we realize how great our sin and offense against God is, the easier it is to forgive those who elevate the sins of others have in direct proportion de elevated their own sins before God. It works exactly that way. If other people's sins are such a big deal to you, I can tell you, you view your own sins very lightly. You see that? But the greater you see your own sin, the smaller you'll see the sins of other people.

It works in exact proportion. If you're a judgmental person, you don't realize the judgment you have been granted forgiveness from in God's eyes. John Stott said, once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of the offense against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offense of others, it proves that we have minimized our own to that. I say, Amen. Let me explain for just a moment what forgiveness is and what forgiveness is not.

This I think will be very helpful. First of all, forgiveness is a choice and act of the will. It is not a feeling. You may not feel like forgiving. You may not want to forgive.

You just have to. Forgiveness is a act of the will. It is not an act of the feelings. Secondly, forgiveness is based on the truth that God in Christ has forgiven us.

It is not based upon what we think is fair. Thirdly, forgiveness acknowledges unjust behavior that is inexcusable, yet still it will forgive that. Whereas unforgiveness is not excusing unjust behavior. Forgiveness is feeling the hurt, but releasing it. Forgiveness is not forgetting it. Forgiveness is acknowledging the debt owed you. Forgiveness is not pretending there was nothing owed. Forgiveness includes remembering before you forgive. Forgiveness often is a process. You can forgive someone yesterday and need to repeat that again because it comes back. When you say, Oh, I forgave them 20 years ago, then why are you still bitter?

Sometimes it's 70 times seven. Forgiveness is rarely a one time thing. Forgiveness is moving the guilty from your hook to God's hook and allowing God to execute the judgment. Forgiveness is not letting the guilty person off the hook. Well, forgive them, then they're off the hook.

No, they're not. You've just turned them over to God. Forgiveness is possible with only one party. Forgiveness is not reconciliation, which involves both. Forgiveness is complete, resolving the anger and resentment. You release the offender.

You set them free from owing you anything. Forgiveness is not incomplete in keeping a record of the wrongs. You know, God remembers all of our sins. Sometimes you'll say, well, God forgets it. No, he doesn't forget it. He remembers. Well, then why is the Bible saying Hebrews chapter 10 verse 18 preacher that he forgets our sins? Well, he forgets it in the sense that he doesn't hold it against us anymore. He remembers it because he wrote. Do you think he remembered David's sins when he wrote him down in the Bible? You think God knows what exit what the Bible says in what?

Uh, uh, second Samuel chapter 11 or so in Psalms 32, Psalm 51. You know, God remembers every single sin you've ever committed. He's just chosen not to remember it against you just judicially. You'll remember things people have done. People say, well, I forgive, but I'll never forget.

Well, sounds like there's some bitterness still in there. So, so here's how I want you to pray. God, I want you to view my sins exactly how I'm viewing theirs. God, I want you to see me exactly how I see the person who offended me. God, I want you to treat me in the area of a forgiveness exactly how I treat that person. But pastor, you don't know what they've done to me under 90,000 years. You know, the dear individual that was sitting up here on this soul today singing was sold by her father into sex trafficking when she was a young teenager sold to her dad's drug dealer down in Mexico, trafficked, abused, hurt in ways that probably no one in this room understands. And today, those singing praises to God as she's done year after year. Praise God for the mercy and grace you've shown us.

Amen. And what did that person do? They said something about you wrong in a social media post. What did they do? What did somebody take your 50 cent an hour raise at work? What did they say something bad about you?

You didn't get that position. You know, I think sometimes God allows us to go through some difficulties just to see if we will forgive other people just to see if we actually love God enough. Well, you don't know what they did to me. Please don't keep that kind of thought in your mind. Friend, do you have someone you need to forgive today? Let me just share with you a couple of thoughts.

We're going to wrap this up. How do you know we've truly forgiven someone? How do you know if you've truly forgiven someone? First of all, you can face what they did and forgive them anyway. You can look at what they did according to Matthew 18 and you can forgive them anyway.

You see the debt and you let it go. You know what they did to me was this and this and this. And you know what?

It was completely wrong. That means going to the person. You know what? I just want you to know what you said or what you did was very hurtful to me. But I just want you to know that. Just as God's forgiven me, I forgive you and I can't hold this against you. And I just want you to know I'm not going to hold any ill feelings against you.

I'm not going to tell anybody what you've done stops today. It's over. And I just want you to know I forgive you, though it hurt me. I just want you to know that I'm letting that go. I'm not going to hold on to that anymore.

Secondly, you don't keep bringing it up to them because you've released the debt. Husbands wise, you don't keep bringing it up. Oh, I forgive him. Not if you're bringing it up.

Don't go back to that ninth command. Don't be a liar. Third, you don't talk about it to others. You don't gossip. You don't slander the person. Show me someone who has unforgiveness in their heart.

I guarantee you they're bad mouthing that person to other people. Fifthly, you refuse to speak evil of them. Next, you show mercy instead of judgment. The Bible says blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy and mercy rejoices over judgment.

James two thirteen. Next, you choose not to dwell on it. You're like the guy in Philippians four, verse eight, that you whatever is true, just, holy, righteous, you dwell on what's right. Next, you pray for them according to Matthew five forty four.

You can sincerely pray for them. Pray for your enemies, Jesus said. Number eight, you ask God to bless them. Romans twelve fourteen says, bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Number nine, you do not rejoice in their calamity. Verse twenty four seventeen says, rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. Let them not let not thine heart be glad when he stumbles.

You see them go through hardship. You don't say, oh, praise God, I knew they was going to get it. I had a guy one time road rage in me.

It's been probably fifteen, sixteen years ago. Maniac was on my tail and had my two little girls in the back and I was like, you know, good night. I slowed down a little bit, graciously tried to let it. He was just going crazy. Must have been drunk or something. And he goes around me and swerves at me and I. You know, I'm a gracious guy, but when you're carrying your kids in there, I thought I'm going to rip this guy's arm off and beat him with it. You know, I was just and I was just infuriated. The flesh just, you know, and I was driving a minivan so could only go about 50 mile an hour anyway. And all of a sudden a cop bust out from behind me, pulls the guy over.

I was like, yes, yes, justice. I mean, I'm like singing praises. And my wife looked at me. She said, how dare you?

I mean, she just put me in my place right away and comes to mind some problems 24 seven. I rejoice. I was like, give him a ticket. Yes. You know what it means? It means that you know what you don't rejoice when those who are an enemy of yours or somebody you're against, you don't rejoice in their calamity. You say you say things like if it weren't for grace, so go I.

Number 10, you're willing to help them when you can. Romans 12 20 says, therefore, if thine enemy hunger feed him, he's thirsty, give him the drink. Goes on to say, don't be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

You know what that means? God's in charge of your life, not them. As I come to conclusion, friends in prayer. When we come to verse 12, this this needs to be a stopping point and examination of our heart. I tell you this week I have I have got on my face before God had said, is there anyone dear God that I have harbored anything against? Bring it to my mind to anyone that I am at odds with. Because I dare not pray, verse 12, without having a clean heart. I dare not pray, verse 12, with sin in my heart towards someone else.

Bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness. Realize what you're praying. You're saying, God, treat me exactly how I'm treating others. I want you to treat me in the exact same way that I've treated those who've offended me. Listen to me very close. We get to forgive people.

Do you hear that? We don't we don't like have to in a negative sense. I'm saying we get to forgive people. You know what forgiveness says? God, I love you more than their sin. I love you and your command to forgive more than the sin that they've offended. I will obey you over their offense. Instead of letting their offense control me, I'll let your truth control me.

I want to treat them exactly how you'll treat me. And I believe forgiveness, when it's given, it needs to be verbally extended in some way. It needs to be verbally extended in some way. One of the greatest ways to forgive someone, pray for them, and then give them something that is of cost to you.

Bring them a meal, bring them something, do something kind for them. If you can't verbally, physically see them, sometimes things happen. You can't even get around them. Then write a letter. There needs to be some way and expression of forgiveness. I've had I've had we've had three people in this church over the last probably two or three years who've come to me and said, Pastor, I need to forgive the person who murdered my parents. In Lighthouse.

And what did they do that was so offensive to you? I just sit there sometimes and I'm it just it just blows me away. I see the power of Christ upon those settings, just blown away. It just that that's that's like a whole message that gets preached to me when guys say stuff like that just blows me away.

I'm so humbled by that. That's that's what the power of the gospel does. Sets people free, sets people free.

Today, leave free, be set free, right? May Lighthouse be known as a forgiving church, but the essence that comes up from this place into heaven be a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God that says, praise God, that's a forgiving church. I'm going to treat that church just like they've treated other people who wronged them.

There may be a day when when government officials or authorities in this country pressed down upon us, you know what? We need to treat them with with forgiveness and grace, just like God's shown us. Amen. Let's all stand this morning with heads bowed and eyes closed. The altar is open. Maybe today you just want to come and spend some time in prayer. Maybe maybe your heart's clean, but maybe you just want to come and pray for a family member. Maybe you want to come and pray for someone to be saved.

Maybe in your heart, you know that there is something deep in there that you've been holding on to. Why don't you come and spend a moment in prayer at the altar? You could do that now. I know it's hard to go out and forgive until we spend time in prayer. But today, maybe it's you that says, you know, Pastor, if I stood before God, I don't know if heaven's my home. If if I stood before God and he said, why should I let you into heaven? I'm not sure what I would say. Pastor Josh, could you pray for me because I need to know that for sure.

I need to know that when my life's over, I'd be right with God and I'm not 100 percent sure on that. With heads bowed and eyes closed, if that's you today, would you just raise your hand that I might know to pray for you? I won't come and embarrass you, but I'd love to pray for you. Anybody today. Thank you. I see you. Thank you.

Anybody else. Can you pray for me? I need to not sure that I'm saved. I want to make sure of that today. I'm going to make sure of that today. I'm going to be down front. We have men and women down front that could talk with you and pray with you.

Get that settled today. Father, I thank you for your word. Thank you for its truths. I thank you for the freedom that you give. We don't have to be in bondage to these things, the offenses of others. The seed of judgment is too big for any one of us.

It's only for you. And so let us climb off of that chair, turn judgment over to you so that we might forgive others. Forgive us our sins. Father, in the same way that we have forgiven others, save the lost today. In Jesus' name, amen.