... ... ... ... ...... ......... ... ...... ...... Last week we saw where Peter, in response to some teachings that Jesus gave on offenses that will come in life, asks the question, How often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? And the cultural norm of the day among Judaism was that you would forgive someone three times based on teachings out of Amos chapter 1. And so Peter says, Should I forgive him seven times?
An elevated number, surely. And Jesus responds to that and he says, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seven times seventy. And this is the idea of a level of forgiveness that has no cap on it. And he sets a standard that we are to live by.
Now some people may look at that and think that is an awful thing to be subjected to. That you would be required to live in such a state that you would continually forgive. Yet I believe this is really one of the greatest blessings to hear in all the Bible.
For two main reasons. First of all, Jesus is showing us how God treats our sin. With a constant flow of forgiveness to those who come to him in humble repentance. That he would constantly pour out mercy upon our sins.
What a joy to know that that kind of standard has been given to us. Amen. Secondly, it's a blessing because forgiveness frees us from the bondage and poison of bitterness. Bitterness and unforgiveness is a cancer that will literally destroy a person from the inside out. And so we should rejoice in the fact that Jesus says, Forgive with an idea that there is no cap on that. That you would constantly be one who forgives because you have been forgiven. Now this morning we will look at a parable of forgiveness.
And I truly believe this is one of the most transforming parables that Jesus perhaps has ever given. And I know that this will have an impact on everyone here. Because all of us deal with offenses. All of us deal with people wronging us. There are things that people can do very bad against you and I in life that can be very hurtful. And the question is, what do we do when somebody offends us in some terrible way?
Or in maybe even a less way, but it can sometimes be extremely offensive. And outside of being saved, I think this is really one of the most important messages for us to hear. And so let's jump into the parable and then I'm going to look at some application from this. So verse 23 through 35 is this story of the parable of an unforgiving servant. Just to recap what a parable is, we spent several weeks teaching on what parables are. And they were teaching devices used among the Jews in that day. But they were basically earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. Jesus would take that which you could not see and teach by something you could see.
He would take a spiritual truth and make it visual through a physical story that you could comprehend. And so parables were also, and this is important for you to understand, parables were designed to highlight one specific truth. They weren't trying to relay three or four or five or even two, but just one central truth that was being pressed with the parable. Think about the parable of the four soils, three false converts and one true convert. He was teaching about what genuine salvation produces fruit. The parable of wheat and tares. He again was teaching the difference between true converts and false converts because wheat and tares look identical until the point when the wheat begins to produce fruit and it bows over with that white fruit where tares stand upright and they have a darker little seed that's inside of them.
And he says they look alike until the harvest time and then you can really begin to see the difference. And he's talking about how there will be true and false converts that will be placed into the church. Now parables were designed to highlight some of these specific teachings. We think about the parable of the hidden treasure that he's highlighting the all-surpassing value of knowing Christ and salvation. But this parable in chapter 18 carried the central truth about the priority of forgiveness. The central truth of this parable is answering the question, how often should I forgive?
He is answering a specific question with this story. And the story of the parable has three scenes to it and the first scene is in verse 23 through 27. The servant who had an incomprehensible debt in the king's response. And so let's begin there in verse 23. It says, Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain king which would take account of his servants. Now the phrase take account means he was settling the counts.
They were giving an answer to him of what he had entrusted to them. And friend, you need to know today that there is coming a day, a day of reckoning when you will give an account of your life to God. Every human being will do that. You will not escape that. Atheism will not deny that reality. You will stand before God, give an account of all of your life. Matthew 25 19 talks about it as a day of reckoning. The Bible is clear that all believers will stand before Jesus at what's known as the Bema Seat Judgment or the Judgment Seat of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 10 says, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
The word bad there could also be translated as worthless. Worthy works and worthless works will be judged. Romans 14 10 highlights the same truth. Unbelievers will not stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Rather, unbelievers will stand before what's known as the great white throne judgment. This is Revelation 20. This is at the end of the battle of Armageddon. This is at the end of the thousand year millennial reign. Revelation 20 verse 11 says, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the heaven and earth fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God. Death in the Bible does not mean a cessation of life.
It means a separation. They are dead and they're standing before God. It means they are spiritually separated from God. They are not in relation with God.
They have no salvation in their life. And the dead small and great stand before God. The books were opened and another book. There's multiple books. One will be the Bible.
The Bible says thy word is forever settled in heaven. There's also a book of works and there is the book of life. There is at least three books that are going to be opened. It says the books plural were opened and another book. Which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.
Notice according to their works. You will be judged based on your works if you are lost. Everything you've ever said, thought, acted upon will be found in judgment in that day. Who wants to stand before God and give an account of all of that? If I said there's a real that's going to come up here of everything you thought this last week, you would run out of this room. Or you would run up here and tear these things off the wall so nobody could see them.
Cut the electric, right? Friends, there's going to be a day when we stand before God and the believer won't be judged based on their sin. They'll be judged based on their service. But the unbeliever will be judged based on their life. Revelation 20-15 says whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Eternity awaits those who are unsaved, those whose works will prove them to be unregenerate, unsaved and sinful.
And they will be cast into a place of eternal torments. And so it says in verse 23 that he reckoned with, he took account of his servants. And it says that he would take account of his servants. Now servants there is a Greek word for doulos which means slaves. It would be better translated as slaves in my opinion.
The most accurate translation perhaps though would be even bondservant, one who was purchased by another. He was owned by his master. He did not own himself, he was the possession of his master. You need to understand when you get saved you are not your own, you are bought with a price. You don't own your life anymore. You say well are we slaves of God?
Yes. And the Bible says God's slaves are his freemen. When you are owned by God you are set free from the bondage and slavery of sin. You will serve someone. I know we like the idea of autonomy in America, freedom, but nobody is free. Just wake up tomorrow and don't pay your taxes and don't pay your bills. And I will tell you how quick you will wind up in a place of penitentiary, right? You are not free.
There are freedoms that we have in this country that we need to be thankful for. But I can tell you we live in service. And we have a cruel master on this earth and a wonderful master in heaven. You know the Bible says in the Gospel of Luke that when we get to heaven Jesus will come and serve us at that great banquet. Jesus served the disciples, he served the church with his life.
Is it too much for him to ask of us to serve him who is the most beneficial and the most benevolent to us? Now this servant of his Lord, this slave of his Lord had an insurmountable debt. How much debt was it? Because of inflation it is really impossible to highlight the monetary value of this. For example, in the year 2000, $1.75 in the year 2000 would only be worth $1 today. If you had $1.75 in your account in the year 2000, in 2024 it would be worth $1.
That's 74% inflation in 24 years. That's what happens when you have people running a government who spend other people's money. The only place that works is when you're in government.
It doesn't work anywhere else. It destroys everybody else. Like if you overspend, and I'm just on a rabbit show right now. If you're a business owner, you can't do that. You can't have deficit like that without going bankrupt. If you're a homeowner, no matter who you are, the only people who get away with it is big government. That's why we need to shrink the government down massively. It needs like a 75% cut. Anytime you see government overreach, that's why the help and the care given in even these hurricanes is insufficient because government doesn't operate well. It needs to be grassroots people that do that kind of work.
They are insufficient because when you spend other people's funds, you use them recklessly. Get me started. We can calculate the past 20 years, but the last 2,000 years is very difficult. D.A. Carson says, Some recent estimates suggest a dollar value from 12 million to over a billion dollars in today's currency. It's impossible to calculate the number there. Perhaps a better way for me to illustrate the level of debt that this guy had gotten himself into. A talent in that day was a measure.
It was a weight. Typically, in this situation, it would be like a talent of silver. A talent of silver would conventionally be reckoned at 6,000 denarii. 6,000 pence could also be the translation.
A denarii was a typical day's wage. So one talent would equal, in comparison, 15 years of working for one man. So if you worked for 15 years, you could accumulate basically one talent of silver. Here Jesus says the man doesn't owe one talent. He owes 10,000 talents. That would be equal to owing 150,000 years of work.
That's why when people heard the story, they'd be like, whoa, 10,000 talents? That's ridiculous. That's preposterous. That's insane.
What kind of guy is that? And what kind of king waits until he gets that kind of debt to reckon with him? I mean, from historical documents, it's been determined that the four provinces of Ijumia, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee only totaled about 900 talents of taxation that was collected by Rome. Those four provinces only gave 900 talents of taxation to Rome from all four provinces. That would be like taxing those four provinces for over 11 years to equal the debt that this guy has incurred by himself. 10,000 talents is 60 million denarii, or some 30 tons of silver. This guy is insane.
What's he been doing? I mean, perhaps he was a satrap. Maybe he was somebody with a lot of authority.
But in any way, and I also, you need to know this. The highest numerical value that the Greeks could use in their language was the word morias, M-Y-R-I-A-S. It was the highest designation. The word, it would be like our word zillions.
Like you just can't figure out a word that goes higher than that. So when the Bible says things like 10,000 times 10,000, it doesn't mean take 10,000 and times 10,000. It's saying innumerable and innumerable angels. When Jesus comes not with 10,000 of his saints, but with an innumerable number of his saints. When Paul says you have 10,000 instructors, he's talking about like innumerable.
That's the idea. It's not saying a specific number. So that's just the highest designation that they had. And talents was the highest calculation that they could use as well to calculate like sums of money. So it would be like an innumerable with this highest designation put together.
It's like zillions and zillions. Like this guy had raked up debt that is beyond comprehension. Now what does this debt represent? You know what it represents? It represents the amount of sin that we have offended God with that is so high in number you can't put a digit on it. You can't reckon it up in order. It is beyond calculation the amount of sin that each individual has committed against God. You can't put a digit on it. Well I don't feel like, it doesn't matter what you feel. You're not, you're not the judge.
We always look good in the dark. Stand in the light of his presence and you'll do what Isaiah did. He fell on his face and said, I am undone. And the word undone in Hebrew means I am coming apart at the seams.
Woe is me. It totally devastated Isaiah because when Isaiah saw God for the first time he saw himself for the first time. And I can tell you that light will shine upon us. And I pray that it would shine upon us today so that we might see the weight of our sin that we might also see the weight of his mercy. Psalm 38 4 says, my iniquities are gone over my head as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. This is Pilgrim's Progress, isn't it?
Boy Bunyan captured that reality. Psalm 40 verse 12, for innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up.
They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart faileth me. This is the cry of one who begins to grasp the weightiness of it. So in scene one not only do we see the incomprehensible debt but secondly the insurmountable consequence.
Verse 25. But 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. Because he couldn't pay it, he and his entire family would be sold and go to a debtor's prison until it was repaid. Now selling people into slavery to pay their debts was extremely common in the ancient world. In fact if you couldn't pay your debt you would end up having to go to prison for it or serve someone for it.
So people didn't just go into debt willy-nilly. And so this is the reality of that world in that time. Now I want to point out, when it comes to parables, one mistake people make with parables is they try to utilize every aspect of the parable to connect it to some spiritual reality. But not everything ties together. For example, the amount of debt this guy has collected is like the sin that we have offended God with. But God doesn't expect our wife and children to pay and atone for our sin for us. Is that making sense? You can't make a direct equivalent.
Sometimes people try to do that. He's not trying to teach that idea. He's trying to teach one single truth, that since you've been forgiven much, this is how you need to respond. And everybody in that day knows that, hey, if you did that in our current day, back 2,000 years ago, they would sell you into slavery and everything you had and everyone in your family. So he's tying together things that happen in the culture that obviously is not required by God. Now, Jesus includes that here because it reflects how the culture was.
Now, the man falls before the king begging him to have patience with him, and he says, and I will repay everything I owe you. I mean, isn't that laughable? It's like, really? I mean, everybody would have giggled.
I heard some giggles even when I said that. It's like, that's ridiculous. This guy's beyond foolish. But we would have done the same thing. Matthew 18, 26, the servant or slave therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, and the word worship there is proskuneo.
It means he put his head on the ground, and he's saying, Lord or Master, have patience with me, and I'll pay you everything. Everyone in the crowd would have thought, I can understand why this guy's saying this, but this is impossible. This is not. This is beyond comprehension. You have no capacity to do that. You could work the rest of your life.
You have no ability to pay him back. In all of Jesus' parables, he always had a shocking and gripping moment in the story, and you need to know that. So much it would jar the people listening to it.
They'd be like, whoa, didn't see that coming. Every one of Jesus' parables has that item, that element in it, like a shock in it. Something that when you read, you're like, whoa. The reason that we're not always shocked by the stories is because we don't live 2,000 years ago, and it takes me a lot of time to bring back the story from the current day so that we can understand the context before we can understand the text. So this story has actually several shocking and jarring points. The first is the incredible amount of debt.
Again, back in their day, 10,000 talents, everybody had been like, whoa, for me, I've got to talk about it for five minutes before we're like, whoa. So how could you, you know, the first thing is how could you rake up that kind of debt? What has he been doing?
This guy's insane. The second shocking, jarring point comes in verse 27, how the king responds. The guy falls down, says what he said in verse 27.
Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, loosed him and forgave the debt. Whoa. That's incredible. That's shocking.
That's startling. Here it says the king was moved with compassion. What does that tell us? That tells us this is a benevolent king. This is someone who has pity on people. He is not one who is hardened by greed. He rather cares more for the man than he did for the money. He is a compassionate king who looks upon those who humble themselves seeking mercy. He gives it to them. And he has such compassion that he is moved at the man's request. Not only has he moved at the man's request, but he does more than the man requested. The man says, be patient and I'll pay it all. The king goes further and says I'll forgive you and you don't have to pay me. This is magnanimous. This is superlative forgiveness.
Today, friend, you just need to understand God will deal with you that way if you come to him in humble repentance. Is that good news? Is that the best news in the world?
It's the best news in the world. That should make us put on our epitaph, forgive it. It's the greatest gift I've ever had. The greatest thing I've ever had, forgiveness. I don't need anything more than that. I need forgiveness more than water.
More than air. Psalm 86 says, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive. If God is ready to forgive, what should we be ready to do? We should be ready to forgive, but if we have sin, we should be ready to repent. It's like, Lord, if you're giving out forgiveness today, let me run to you like a prodigal. Psalm 103 13 says, like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pity them that fear him.
Psalm 1 John 1 says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquity, all in righteousness. Now, Jesus uses this guy as an illustration of the insurmountable debt of sin we can never pay, which, when we humble ourselves and seek God's mercy, he saves us, removes our sin debt. I'm not sure any of us understand how great our sin debt is. I know we don't. We just can't get a hold of it. The only way we'll understand it is when we see God.
We're going to be so overwhelmed by the gravity of our wickedness and our sin. We just don't get it here. We can't because we're with other people that look as bad as us.
Right? We walk around in the dark with those who have shadows on and we're like, we look pretty good. That's why people say, you know, I think I'm a pretty good person.
We can come to those conclusions from such a de-elevated view. R.T. France rightly said, the parable thus speaks of the total unmerited grace of God, which forgives his people more than they could ever imagine, because they are unable to help themselves. That's scene one. Let's go to scene two.
The happy story takes a very tragic turn here. This is the servant responding, one who is now indebted to him. How would we think the guy would treat somebody who owes him something? Well, verse 28 says, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence.
So this man, shortly after he is forgiven all of this insurmountable debt, it says he goes out. It's like right away he goes out and finds somebody who owes him a hundred pence, a hundred denarii. I've read where sometimes people say it's like 10 bucks. It's not like 10 bucks.
It's much more than 10 bucks. A hundred denarii would be like you working a hundred days. That's a hundred days wages. How long would it take you to work a hundred days? Some of you guys take like a whole year, but no.
That was a low shot, wasn't it? But I wasn't going to talk about government workers. I wasn't going to say anything about that.
Don't write me a letter telling you. A hundred denarii would be like three to four months of work. I say that because it's important for you to understand this wasn't like nothing. It wasn't like he hadn't deserved the guy to pay him back who had wronged him by not paying him back.
I mean, there was a level of owing here and an offense here. But when you compare it to 10,000 talents, it's like nothing. It's much less than 10 dollars in comparison. In fact, in comparison, it would only represent one six hundred thousandth of a debt that this first slave owed the king.
It's like nothing. Sure. Somebody may offend you three to four months worth of wages. They may do something, and I'm talking about that physically, but where they could wrong you in some other sense, not just monetarily, but they could wrong you in some way where it's like, man, that's kind of a heavy offense. They really wronged me. It could be legitimate.
But comparison, what are you looking at? How does he handle the one who owes him three to four months of wages? This is the third shocking scenario. Verse 28, And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. Everyone in the crowd is like, that's crazy. I would say at this point, the disciples are probably starting to get it, right?
You ever get your feet stepped on in a sermon? This is where they're like, out. We're starting to get this, Jesus, and he's like, I'm not done. There's more. It doesn't stop there.
It actually gets worse, even much worse. Verse 29, And his fellow servants fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. What did that sound like? That sounds exactly like what he did to the king. Now, at this point, you could say, hey, you know, he responded initially in a wrong way. But after this guy falls down, he begins to remember what mercy has been shown to him. And he begins, obviously, he should respond in a benevolent way and forgiving way as well.
The terminology is almost identical in verse 29 to verse number 26. Yet what does he do? Verse 30, And he would not. That is the turning point for this guy.
He would not. But he went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. Do you think he should have forgiven the guy before the guy had to fall down and worship him? You know, sometimes people say, well, I don't think I should forgive somebody until they come and really repent. Oh, so you're going to be like this guy, right?
I'm going to talk about that next week. So he will not forgive the guy. He went and cast the guy into prison till he pays the debt. I just want you to understand, he has the legal right to do that. Legally, he's in the bounds of what he's allowed to do. The guy's not acting illegal. I want to say this, just because you have a legal right to press civil law against people doesn't mean it's right with God. Does that make sense?
Well, legally I could press, sure, sure, sure. And you could be like the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, right? They were going to law with one another. Paul says, don't you realize one day we're going to judge angels? He said, why don't you just set up the least esteemed in your church to be the judge? He said, are you so foolish to keep going to court with each other? Now, it would be bad enough if he said, you know, I'll give you time. I'll give you time, but you better pay me very last dime.
That would be bad enough. But even worse, the guy forces full payment without any patience, without any mercy. He extends no pity on the guy. James 2 13 says he shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy and mercy rejoices against judgment. Jesus said in Matthew 5 7, blessed are the merciful. They are the ones who will obtain mercy.
Frank, can you and I begin to see the evil it is for professing believers to act this way? It is so wrong, so sinful to hold on to unforgiveness, to be unmerciful when we have been shown an incalculable amount of mercy. Now this goes to the final scene, scene three, the king's response.
What's the king do when he gets word of this? It says, first of all, in verse 31, so when the fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry. I mean, it affected them. The lack of mercy grieved those around him.
Does that happen to people in our day? Grieved because you see the bitterness welling up in people. And it says, and they came and told their Lord all that was done. It says the fellow servants, these are people who also belong to the king.
These are fellow, these are believers. One thing that unforgiveness does is it grieves people. And when the king finds out about this, verse 32, it says, then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, oh, thou wicked servant. I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? Shouldn't you have treated him how I treated you? The king rebukes the servant, notice, as a wicked servant. How can you show no compassion when you've received so much compassion?
How can you receive such forgiveness and it not affect your life? The king is shocked. He is appalled.
He is angry. The king becomes very angry with the wicked servant, and look what he does in verse 34. And his Lord was wroth or angry and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. The debt that had been removed is now reapplied.
Did you hear that? What had been forgiven is no longer forgiven. You show no mercy, I remove my mercy. You won't forgive, I will not forgive. R.T. France says, the man is turned over not simply to prison to pay all, but even worse, now he is under the judgment and it's much more severe.
It got worse for the guy. The forgiveness which was freely granted is now withdrawn, not because the slave is any more likely to be able to pay the debt, but because he has proven himself unworthy of his master's mercy, and now he is not only sold, but he is tortured. His destiny is not detention, but punishment. Some translations wrongly translate that as jail, it is torturers. Study Bedag or any other faithful commentary and that's exactly, this guy didn't go to jail, he went to be tortured for this.
Carson, D.A. Carson writes, Jesus sees no, and I want you to get this, Jesus sees no incongruity in the action of a Heavenly Father who forgives so bountifully and punishes so ruthlessly. And neither should we. Indeed it is precisely because he is a God of such compassion and mercy that he cannot possibly accept as his those devoid of compassion and mercy.
He cannot. Now Jesus drives this message home very personally in verse 35. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your what? Have you ever said I forgive you and the lips said it but the heart was far from it?
If ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Is that a heavy message? You think that's important for us to know in life? Do you feel unsettled about that?
You have some questions right now? I hope you do. So Jesus answers Peter's question, Lord how often shall I forgive? Jesus' response is forgive others until you want to stop being forgiven by God. The moment you want to stop being forgiven, that's when you should stop forgiving. Does anybody want to stop being forgiven? Does anybody want to say God render to me my sin? Tap it all back on me.
Anybody want that? So what did they do to you? What did your ex-wife do? What did your ex-husband do? What did your kid, what did your mother-in-law say? What did she say? Tell my mother-in-law, you're my favorite mother-in-law I've ever had.
She's the only mother-in-law I've had. We getting this point? Is this important for us? That is why I've told you before and I repeat now, how we treat one another defines our faith. It defines our faith. We don't love God in some abstract way. Well I love God, I just don't like that organized church thing.
Why? Because you have unforgiveness towards somebody who hurt you in the past and you can't stand being around God's people, is that why? How do you think that's going to fare one day you stand before God, right? You're so unloving you can't even stand being around God's people on earth. You think you're going to heaven? You have that kind of spirit towards God's people?
Really? I think every one of us could use that line. You know what, I just don't like going to church because somebody offended me. Well if you go to church long enough somebody will offend you.
We talked about that last week, right? That is a blessing because that allows us to treat others as God has treated us. An atheist could go to a perfect church.
You'd be like, man, these people treat me pretty good. Richard Dawkins said he is a cultural Christian. He's one of the leading atheists who wrote the book God Delusion. He said, I am a cultural Christian. Elon Musk said, I am a cultural Christian. Everyone is believers in Christ but they love the principles that come out of the Bible.
They would go to a place that would treat them great and it would be a perfect environment. Shouldn't Christians be elevated from that? When Saul persecuted the church, Jesus said, you're persecuting me. I can tell you, friends, how we treat one another is the physical, tangible way we are actually treating Jesus. You don't detach, why serve God over here and then here's all the human stuff. No, Jesus puts them together. That's why he said, as much as you've done it to the least of these, you've done it to who?
Yeah. Worship of God becomes this incarnation reality. The people around us are not God but what I am trying to say is this. The way you flesh out your love to Jesus is fleshing it out toward the people in his body.
This is the reality. You cannot say, I love God and hate your brother. Is that what John said? What sin would you think could be so evil, so heinous, so wicked that God says, if you commit this sin, I will not forgive you? What is it that's so horrifying that we would come to the conclusion and say, God, what sin would be so bad that you would not forgive me for?
You know what it is? It's unforgiveness. It's unforgiveness. This is a fact repeated in the teachings of Jesus. Remember the Lord's prayer, Matthew 6? You know what he says at the end of that prayer?
He has about seven elements of different things you should have in your prayer. He says in one of them, and I think it's Matthew 6, 9, he says, And forgive us our debts, even as we forgive those who are indebted to us. And then at the end of it, he only comes back to one thing, which is forgiveness. At the end of that prayer in verse 14 and 15, he says this, which is very interesting. He says, For 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. He made it very clear.
You hold on to unforgiveness toward others. He highlights that after the prayer. He doesn't highlight anything else but that.
Is that significant? You know how the Jews elevated importance? By repetition. They repeated things. That's why he'd say, Verily, verily. That's why we call God holy, holy, holy. It's a trihagion, a thrice holy God. We repeat things in the Jewish culture to elevate.
They would repeat things to elevate significance. Now, I want you to know this. I do believe you can be saved and be battling with unforgiveness. I do believe you can be a Christian and be struggling with unforgiveness. But I believe the Bible is clear on this. That you cannot be a Christian and hold on to unforgiveness throughout your life. You have been disqualified from the family.
This is massive and significant. Did we just read the same text together? I don't think that unforgiveness is the unpardonable sin in a sense. I think it would be better to say this, that those who do not forgive have evidence that they have not truly received the forgiveness of God, otherwise they wouldn't do that. Just as 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11 and Galatians 5, 19-21 says this, that you cannot be a believer. He says, I've told you before and I tell you as I've told you often, that they who continue in open and known sin, and he lists them off, fornication, sleeping around with people you're not married to, you can't live that way and go to heaven. I don't care if you say you prayed to receive Jesus when you're 14 or 20, if you're just living in unrepentant sin, it evidences you're not truly born again. I didn't write the Bible.
I just love you enough to tell you what it says. Just read it for yourself, 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11. It says homosexuality, it says liars, it says covetous, and it lists off a list of about 10 different sins. He does the same thing in Galatians 5, 19-21. He says, I've told you before and I'm telling you again, do not be deceived, people who practice these sins are not going to the kingdom of heaven. We're like, well, I got saved. Easy believe-ism is sending more people to hell than probably anything else. Say this prayer and you'll go to heaven.
Oh, really? Show me that verse. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name Lord shall be saved.
Sure. And not everyone who says, Lord, Lord's entering the kingdom of heaven. Do we believe in analogies scriptura? We believe in scripture matching with scripture, right?
We don't just pick them out. I do believe that you can call on the Lord and be saved, and I think you can call on the Lord and not be saved. So how do you know if somebody's truly born again?
So let me jump into this. Is this a Christian losing their salvation in chapter 18? I do not believe a true believer can lose their salvation.
I believe without a doubt that when you're saved, you are sealed. That's why Hebrews 12 says that when you're in the family, God will discipline you. Why would he discipline you? Because of sin. And so he chastens those he loves. Hebrews 12, you can read through that chapter, verse 6 and on. The Bible is clear that those who are saved are sealed and kept by God's power. Ephesians 4.30, we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1.5, we're kept by the power of God. John 10.27 and 8, he gives us everlasting life. But even more than that are the words of Jesus.
In John 6, Jesus says in John 6.39, This is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Do you understand your salvation is not dependent upon your ability to keep yourself, but his ability to keep you? Is that comforting today? It's very comforting, isn't it?
Guess what? Because if it was up to us, we'd have lost it. You have these silly songs like, I'm holding on to Jesus. You ain't holding on to Jesus. He's been holding you the whole time. You're trying to fall out of his hand if you could. You're wiggling around in there like a worm. Right? Y'all with me? We're like, oh, if I could have got out, oh, he'd pull me back in, you know.
It's embarrassing. In John 17.12, Jesus goes on, this is his high priestly prayer. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I have kept and none of them is lost. But the son of destruction or perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Why? Because Judas was never one of Jesus's. John 18.9, that the saying might be fulfilled which was spoken of them which thou gavest me, I have I lost none. Jesus, if we could lose our salvation, Jesus failed us.
You need to know that. When people say, oh, you can lose your salvation, then Jesus fails. That's what you believe. So you're telling me, Pastor Josh, that you can get saved and go out and live like the devil and get to heaven. Anybody ever heard me say that?
No. People say that. That's a false accusation.
That's not true. Because if you're saved, evil doesn't come out of you, you will know them by their grace. So you believe in a works-based salvation.
No, I don't. I believe in a faith-based salvation, but when faith is real, the root is real, the fruit will be real. When Jesus comes in, he'll come out. I do believe that all that are born again become a new creation in Christ Jesus, old things do pass away, old things come new. And if nothing passes away and nothing becomes new, guess what?
You're not new. Is this Bible? We've been deceived in our culture into thinking in our Christian culture that, oh, I prayed a prayer when I was seven. I'm not looking for a past prayer. I'm looking for a present reality here. You know how many people I've talked to, well, they look back into their past.
They'll look in your past, look in your present. Examine yourself. Are you in the faith? I don't care in seventh grade that you prayed a prayer by your bedside.
Great, but did it change you, and is it still changing you? Because he who began to go to work will perform it until the day of Christ. That's the B-I-B-L-E. That's true Christianity. James says, oh, you have faith without your works?
Really? I'll show you my faith by my works. A true faith truly works.
A dead faith doesn't work. It just says a lot of good things. It's Matthew 7 21, isn't it? You know Matthew 7 21? I mean, I quote it all the time. It says, Not everyone that is safe under me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Read it with me, church. But he that doeth, now I know this is an old English word, and I like some of the new ways you can say it, but that E-T-H is there because that lets you know in the Greek, they didn't talk that way back then. They're putting that there as a signal in that old translation that that is a present imperative. That is a continual action. You don't just do it one time, but you continue to do it.
That's why it says it like that. But he that doeth, your lifestyle is defined by the will of the Father which is in heaven. You're not perfect.
It's not the perfection of a life, but it is the direction. True salvation is a work of God that transforms the sinner. You know what Jesus said in John 8 30? As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to the Jews which believed on him.
Look what he says. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. In other words, you're really born again if you truly continue. He's talking about discipleship there. He's not talking about Christians. If you respond that way, that just evidences that you've not done enough word studies on the word disciple and Christian. I'm not trying to be demeaning.
I'm trying to be gracious about this, but I get frustrated by it. The word Christians only used three times in the New Testament. The word disciple hundreds of times. The way they termed a true believer was with the word mathetes. It means a disciple. So if you continue in my word, then you are my real disciples.
You're really my mathetes. And you know what they do later in that chapter? By the end of the chapter, the same people who said they believed in him were picking up stones to kill him. They didn't remain in his word. This man is said to have received forgiveness from the king. It is true that the king did not apply the debt to the man. He removed it, but the man's life did not reveal that of a true believer. This is why I believe this, how I interpret this, and there are people who would disagree with me.
John MacArthur would disagree with me on this, but the majority of commentators would fall into the category that I fall into here. I believe this is a hypothetical situation. I believe it's a hypothetical situation.
What I mean by that is this. Jesus was asked, how often should I forgive? Jesus' reply was, forgiveness has no limit, and then shows them what it would look like for a Christian to put a limit on it. How evil that would be. Let me show you what that would look like. Jesus shows how impossible it is for God to lavish forgiveness upon someone's life, and then they would rather go out in prison and strangle a guy than forgive them. How impossible is that?
It simply elevates the shock factor. Four reasons, let me give you, why I believe this is not a true believer. Number one, first of all, the guy had a wrong approach to salvation. He pleaded with the king to give him time so he could pay off the debt. One sign of a false believer, a false Christian, is one who thinks they can work themselves back in favor with God. He doesn't say, just have mercy and remove all the debt. He says, I'll work it off.
Just give me time. Again, this is why this is also pointing to a hypothetical. You don't come to God asking him to, God give me time and I'll work off the debt. Does anybody ever do that when you came to salvation?
It's hypothetical, friends. You don't do that. Unbelievers do that. Christians don't do that. You came, cast yourself at his mercy. God, remove my sin based on your mercy, not on my works. Secondly, we see a wrong fruit from his salvation. Is the fruit of salvation, right after you get saved, to go out and strangle someone and demand that they pay you everything back?
Is that the evidence of salvation? Do you remember Judas? People are like, oh, Judas got saved after he repented. Judas didn't repent of his sins. Judas was sorry for what he did. The fruit of salvation isn't going out and hanging yourself. Jesus said he went to his own place. He said of Judas, better that that man had never been born. You think Jesus would say that about a true believer? Of course not. And so, second, he had a wrong fruit of salvation.
You don't go out and do that thing. You know what the man did? The man loved money more than he loved the king, more than he loved God. The Bible says you can serve only one master, Matthew 6-24, either God or money. This man obviously served money. It showed where his allegiance was. This again points to the hypothetical of this man being a true believer.
He's not. He loved money more than people or God. Third, a wrong definition of the saved.
The king calls the man a wicked servant. I would challenge you to go through the Bible and find a place where God ever calls believers wicked. Believers are not the wicked. They're called the righteous. Not because we're inherently righteous. It's because Christ's righteousness has been applied to our account.
According to the rules of hermeneutics, scriptures define scripture. And so when you look, where else does he call somebody a wicked servant? You go to Matthew 25. The parable of the talents. Remember five talents given to one man, two talents to another, one talent to another? This is what happens in Matthew 25 when the man is unfaithful with his talents. He's like, Lord, you know, he didn't do anything with it. Verse 26, Matthew 25.
I want you to hear what he says. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful or lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers at my coming.
I should have received mine own with usury or interest. Take therefore the talent from him. Give it to them who have 10 talents unto everyone that has shall be given and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Verse 30, cast ye the unprofitable servant who he named as a wicked servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Where do you think that guy's going? That's hell, isn't it? I mean, you just look up Matthew 13, 42, 50, 24, 51, on and on. Weeping and gnashing of teeth is talking about the reality of eternal judgment. So the only other time Jesus talks about a wicked servant in these parables, a guy goes to hell, clearly.
This guy's not a believer. And then immediately after Matthew 25's parable, Jesus launches into the time of Christ's return. And he talks about sheep being separated from goats.
And he talks about how their separation and dividing line will not be based on what somebody says they believe, but by what they act out in their belief. Verse 34 through 40 says, you know, you served me here. You visit me in prison. You did all these things.
You clothed me. And they said, when did we do that? He said, as much as you've done it to the least of these, you've done it to me. Their right fruit evidenced their true salvation. The fruit doesn't produce salvation. Fruit reveals life of salvation. And then verse 41 through 45 of Matthew 25, they have wrong fruit and a false salvation. And at the end of that, Matthew 25, 46, he says, these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal. This again elevates that this man is a hypothetical situation, elevating the point that Jesus is making. How that evil, wicked people, it's impossible for them to be a true believer if they live that lifestyle.
That's why, friends, you have to be careful when somebody says, well, I prayed a prayer once. Doesn't mean anything. It really doesn't.
I don't. I know that can sound harsh and cold and stuff. I think it's the most loving thing I can say to people. I think we're telling, I think sometimes in life, Christians are guaranteeing somebody salvation and you're not the guarantee of that. The Holy Spirit is and the Word of God is. Now a fourth reason is a wrong punishment for the saved. Verse 34, the Lord or master was angry, delivered the guy to be tortured till he pays off what was due to him. Well, you think that's what the believer is going to deal with?
This is clearly the judgment of an unbeliever. Now let me close this down. I had about a dozen more pages of notes today that I had to cut off.
So I think this will be a third week but let me give you some applications from this. How does this story affect you today, right now? Are you like the man who gladly received God's forgiveness and then are you holding on to forgiveness to somebody else? I hope you're motivated today to forgive. I hope you hear this and you're just like, man, that scares me.
Good. It should terrify you. It should cause you to be awake at night until you get it right. In fact, I pray that you won't be able to sleep until you do get it right because I care more for your soul than your comfort and so should you.
Is this true? You're not going to the Church of Comfort this morning. This isn't lighthouse comfort zone. But if you want to know what the Bible says, come here. If you want a pastor to tell you the truth, be here.
If you want somebody that's not going to candy-coat it and try to make people like him because he says comforting things, then this is where you need to be. This is the truth. You will be offended, sometimes severely, wronged in ways that you will struggle to ever think, how could I ever forgive them?
The way you forgive them is to stop looking at them and start looking at him. You say, you know, they owe me three to four months. I get it. It's a lie. You could tell me and I could be like, man, I'd struggle with that.
But then I look over here, I'm like, how could I struggle with that? If I look at this long enough, well, three to four months, I mean, they really owed me. I have a legal right. Well, sure. Man, when I look over here, wow, if he's forgiving me, then how could I not? I just think that we need to come to grips with the Bible's reality of forgiveness, that we've been forgiven 150,000 years of sin in like manner. Couple last thoughts here. What is forgiveness and what is it not?
This will be helpful. Forgiveness is a choice. It's an act of the will. It is not a feeling. You may not feel like forgiving. It's not about your feelings. It's about an act of the will. Secondly, forgiveness is based on the truth of God and Christ, that he's forgiven me.
It's not based on what we feel like is fair. Forgiveness is acknowledging unjust behavior is inexcusable, yet still forgiving it. You don't excuse their behavior.
Yes, it was wrong. Yes, it was wicked what they did to me, but I'm willing to extend forgiveness. Forgiveness is not excusing them. Forgiveness is feeling the hurt, but releasing it. Forgiveness is not denying that they hurt you. Forgiveness includes remembering what they've done before you forgive them. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness acknowledges the debt they owed you. Forgiveness is not denying they did anything wrong. Forgiveness is from the heart.
It is not just with your lips. Forgiveness is often a process. You can forgive them today and tomorrow, you're like, man, I'm holding on to this thing again.
I thought I'd let it go. Then do it again, then do it again, then do it again. Forgiveness is not usually a one-time act. Forgiveness is moving the guilt from your hook to God's.
It allows God to be just and the executioner of judgment. Forgiveness is not letting them just off the hook and circumventing God's justice. Forgiveness can be possible with only one party. The other person doesn't have to be willing to incorporate any action into it. Forgiveness is not reconciliation, which requires both parties.
I'll talk about that a little bit more next week. Forgiveness is complete. You're dissolving the anger and resentment by releasing the offense of the offender. You're setting them free.
They don't owe you anything is the idea. Forgiveness is not incomplete in keeping records of the wrongs. You know you've forgiven someone when you can face what they've done and forgive them anyway. You don't keep bringing it up. You don't keep talking about it. You show mercy instead of judgment. You refuse to speak evil of them.
You choose not to dwell on it. You can pray for them. You even ask God to bless them. Bless them that persecute you, Romans 12.14 says. And you do not rejoice at their calamity, as the Bible says in Proverbs 24.17 is a very evil thing. I'm going to be talking about 11 reasons why we need to forgive.
There's a lot of other things that I need to dive into next week that I couldn't do today. I know there's questions that come around forgiveness, but I want to highlight and put on the top shelf the importance of this issue, friends. Every person in this room has dealt with this.
As a pastor for 20 plus years, I can tell you, I've sat down with people that the pains and the hardships and the injustices are almost insurmountable sometimes, the wrongs that people have done. I get it. I get it.
Some of you have been wronged much more than I've ever been wronged in my life. I get that. Believe me. And I can't give you the strength to overcome that struggle.
I get that. I'm not trying to diminish how offensive people can be. What I am trying to signify is how much we have offended God and how much He's forgiven us has to cause us to forgive based on God's goodness and command and not on the worthiness of the offender. My prayer today is that we would leave today obedient to God and not obedient to our anger, that we would serve the Lord and not our unforgiveness and bitterness. One will set you free, the other will enslave you and could even cause you to end up in eternity out of God's presence.
You can be unforgiving and be saved for a time, but I don't think that somebody can live with an unforgiving heart their entire life and evidence a true salvation. Does that make sense today? It's a big deal, isn't it? And so let's all stand this morning.
