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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Remember what Jesus said from Matthew 6? For if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.
Now, I hear people try to rationalize this and say, Well, what Jesus really meant was, no, Jesus really meant what he said. He said, If you don't forgive, God is not going to forgive you. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffers. At some point in our lives, all of us are bound to feel hurt in a deep and sometimes profound way.
So in those intense moments of pain and betrayal, how do we find that power to forgive? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffers explains the biblical steps to developing a forgiving heart. But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory.
Before we get started, a quick reminder that Pathway to Victory is in the throes of planning a vacation for you in which you'll escape the pressures of everyday life. We're hoping you'll join us for the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. The dates are June 13th through 20th, 2026. and after one full week aboard a luxury cruise liner, having every meal prepared on your behalf, and spending time with like-minded Christians, you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. The wonderful itinerary, information on our guest entertainment, and all the details for reserving your spot can be found at ptv.org.
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Okay, it's time to open God's Word together. From our series on the seven marks of a disciple, we're ready to discuss one of the dominant signs that you're truly following Jesus. Today's message is titled, Developing a Forgiving Heart. C.S. Lewis once said, Forgiveness is a beautiful word.
Until you have somebody to forgive. Have you discovered that's true? It's easy to extol the virtues of forgiveness. until you have to practice it yourself. Until you have to extend it toward that boss who has mistreated you.
That friend who has betrayed you. Perhaps a mate who has abandoned you. or a parent who has abused you. Why should I forgive somebody who has caused me so much hurt? We wonder.
You know, in my 40-plus years in the ministry. I've discovered that the issues, the two issues people struggle with the most in life. Both have to do with forgiveness. Either receiving God's forgiveness or extending forgiveness to others who have wronged us. And by the way, there's an inseparable link between the two, receiving forgiveness and extending forgiveness to others.
You know, until really fairly recently, the whole subject of forgiveness and the importance of forgiveness was relegated to the Sunday school classroom. That's the only place you heard about forgiveness. But in the last 20 years, even the secular world is talking about the value, the benefits of forgiveness. For example, the physical benefits of forgiveness are now well documented. Unforgiveness, bitterness is a Toxin in our bodies that can release deadly toxins and are responsible for cardiovascular disease.
hypertension, it's even been related to some cancers. There are emotional benefits we know for forgiveness. I remember one leading psychiatrist in this country once said. If 80% of people in mental hospitals today could be released right now. If they only knew how to forgive.
Think about it. Forgiveness, holding on to an offense, replaying it over and over again in your mind is like reliving the experience all again. I mean, it's bad enough for somebody to hurt you once. But when you recall that event, your body, your mind registers it as if you're experiencing that hurt again. Why would anybody want to let their offender continually hurt them?
Somebody once said forgiveness is like letting go of a rattlesnake. Sure, it benefits the snake, but it benefits you more. The same thing is true of forgiveness. There are great emotional benefits to forgiveness, but both the physical and emotional benefits of forgiveness pale in comparison to the spiritual benefits of forgiveness. Pastor, what do you mean, the spiritual benefits?
Well, remember what Jesus said from Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15? For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Very simply, if you refuse to forgive other people, God won't forgive you.
Now I hear people try to rationalize this and say, well, what Jesus really meant was, no, Jesus really meant what he said. He said if you don't forgive God is not going to forgive you. There's an inseparable link between receiving God's forgiveness and granting that forgiveness to others. And both receiving and granting forgiveness are marks of a true follower of Jesus Christ, a disciple of Christ.
Now, to see the link about receiving forgiveness and extending it to others, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18, to a story Jesus told to illustrate both why we should forgive and how we should forgive.
Now, we've looked at this parable before, so today I'm going to give you just the Reader's Digest version, just to remind you of what this story is about. This story is about a king. Who was having some serious cash flow problems. And so he needed to call in the IOUs he was holding, people who owed him money. And he started with the person who owed him the most amount of money.
It was a slave who owed him 10,000 talents.
Now, in Jesus' day, a talent was a unit of measurement of gold. It would be about 70 or 80 pounds. One talent, 70 or 80 pounds of gold. This servant owed his king 10,000 of those talents. You know how much money that would be?
10,000 talents of gold? That would be about $16 billion in today's money. You think $16 billion, how could a lowly slave ever get into debt that much? I mean, did he go to Vegas too many times? I mean, what was going on here?
Well, remember, this is a story Jesus told, a parable. He was trying to illustrate. A man who owed a debt that he couldn't pay in 10,000 lifetimes.
So the king says, I want my money. He had a right to say that. And the slave fell down before him and begged him, said, Master, please be patient with me, and I will repay you everything. Can you imagine a more pitiful sight than that? A little slave saying, if you'll just give me a little more time, I'll pay you back that $16 billion.
Look at verse 27 of Matthew 18. The Lord of that slave, the king, felt compassion. And he released him, and he forgave him of the debt. That's what forgiveness is. Literally, it means to release a debt.
to let go of. Can you imagine the relief that slave must have felt? As he heard the words, you are Forgiven. You don't owe me anything. You're free.
Slave got up. He walked out of the palace a new man. But as he was thinking about what he had heard from the king, you are forgiven of your debt. It dawned on me. Hey, think about it, thinking about debt.
There's somebody who owes me some money. And he remembered a fellow slave, a friend, who owed him 100 denarii, Jesus said.
Now, a denarius was 16 cents in today's economy, one day's wage. A hundred in there would be $16. And this slave remembers, I know somebody who owes me $16.
So he goes out, Jesus says, grabs him by the neck, begins to choke him and says, repay me what you owe me.
Now that was a very real debt too. And so the fellow slave says, have patient with me and I'll repay you everything.
Sound familiar? That's what the first slave saved to the king. But unlike the cane, this slave refused to forgive. That paltry $16 debt.
Well when the king heard about this He was incensed. Look at verse 32. Then summoning the slave, the king said to him, You wicked slave. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave?
in the same way that I had mercy on you. I mean, even this king who was a pagan. Understood there was something fundamentally wrong with a man who had been forgiven so much. to refuse to forgive such a little debt. And then verse 34 says, The king, moved with anger, handed that slave over to the torturers.
until he should repay all that was owed him. And then Jesus adds the zinger in verse 35: So shall my heavenly Father do. to you. If each of you does not forgive his brother, from your heart. You see, the relationship between the king and the first slave is like.
God's relationship with us, all of us owe God a debt we could never repay. And yet, when we ask Him, God in His mercy forgives us of that debt through Christ. We have been forgiven a $16 billion spiritual debt, so to speak. When we refuse to grant forgiveness to those who wrong us.
Well, it's just like that slave refusing to forgive that $16. Dead.
Now, don't misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not. Denying that you may have been hurt and wronged? Jesus is not asking you to play like it never happened or to minimize the wrong that has been committed against you. But Jesus says, whatever your hurt is, just keep that hurt in perspective.
For you see the difference between how much somebody has wronged you. And how much you have wronged God. is the difference between $16. And 16. billion dollars.
And that's why forgiveness is the obligation of those who have truly been forgiven. And yet, in spite of the Physical, the emotional, and certainly the spiritual benefits of forgiving other people, we still find it hard to do, don't we? I think there are four reasons, four misunderstandings that cause people difficulty in forgiving other people.
So let me dispel a few of those myths about forgiveness that may be hampering some of you right now. from experiencing the freedom of that gift of forgiveness. First of all, understand forgiveness is not ignoring or rationalizing offenses.
Well, when you forgive somebody, you're not engaging in some mental fantasy playing like what happened to you never actually happened. No, in fact, you really can't forgive somebody until you acknowledge the wrong that they've committed against you. As somebody said, we cannot forgive those we're not willing to blame. To be able to forgive, you have to be willing to blame somebody for the real hurt they've caused in your life. Why is that important?
Let me illustrate it this way. Just suppose that you notice one day a bump on your arm. And you think, aren't you? I wonder how I got that. It's not causing me any problems.
I wonder how I got that. Maybe I banged it into a door or something. You don't give it much thought, but then it begins to hurt after a few days. You try to ignore it. The pain increases.
After a couple of months, you think, you know, I better go get this checked out.
So you go to your doctor, and he looks at it and says, Boy, that looks like more than a bump. Let me biopsy that. He comes back with the test results. You have cancer. And that cancer.
has now metastasized into the rest of your body. All because you chose to ignore that initial bump. You know, it's the same thing with forgiveness. If we just ignore the wrongs that somebody does to us, I'm not talking about not saying hello in the hallway to you, but I'm talking about really major offenses. Proverbs says we ought to overlook transgressions.
But I'm talking about the things you can't overlook. We need to acknowledge that those hurts have occurred so that we can go through the spiritual surgery we call forgiveness. You cannot forgive those you're not willing to blame. Doesn't Joseph teach us that truth? You remember the story of Joseph?
Joseph in the Old Testament was sold into slavery by his brothers. They left him for dead. And yet, through a miraculous set of circumstances, God made Joseph. Or Pharaoh's right-hand man in Egypt. And there was a severe famine in all of the land.
And so Joseph's brothers had to travel to Egypt in order to get grain to keep them alive. Little did they know the person they would be asking for the grain was their own brother, whom they had left for dead years earlier. And when they finally realized who they were talking to, they thought, We're done for. This is it. Surely our brother is going to exact revenge from us.
But in some of the most famous words of the Bible, Genesis 50:20, remember what Joseph said to his brothers? He said, and as for you, You meant evil against me. But God used it for good to bring about this present circumstance to keep you and many others alive. Joseph didn't try to sugarcoat what had happened to him. He didn't say, Oh, brothers, don't worry about it.
You must have just had a bad day when you sold me into slavery. We'll sweep it under the rug. We'll play like it never happened. No, he said, You meant evil against me. But guess what, brothers?
God is bigger than you are. He was able to take your worst intentions, your worst motives, and use them not just for my good, but for your good and the good of all of Israel as well. And the Bible says you cannot forgive unless, first of all, you're willing to acknowledge that a wrong has occurred in your life. Forgiveness is not about rationalizing or ignoring offenses. Secondly, forgiveness is not about surrendering.
our desire for justice. When you forgive, You're not surrendering your desire for justice. I remember in my last church. There was a man, a father, whose daughter had been brutally, brutally murdered. As you can imagine, he struggled with that issue of forgiveness.
And finally, he reached the point that he felt like he had forgiven his daughter's killer. But then he was asked to testify by the prosecution at the killer's trial. And he came to see me. He said, Pastor, I've just now. Barely been able to forgive this man for what he did to my daughter, and now I'm being asked to testify.
And my testimony could easily result in a guilty verdict and a death penalty for this guy. And I'm just not sure as a Christian, should I testify? Frankly, I'd like to see him in the electric chair for what he did, but I've forgiven him. What am I supposed to do? And that afternoon, I explained to him the difference.
Between vengeance and justice. When we forgive, we give up our right to vengeance. You know what vengeance is? Hurting somebody else for hurting us. That's what vengeance is.
Vengeance is our desire to hurt somebody for hurting us. And the Bible says in Romans 12:19, Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. When we forgive, we're giving up our right to hurt somebody else. We're saying, God, you deal with it.
You take exact the punishment. But I'm not going to do it myself. That's vengeance. Trying to hurt somebody for hurting up, but justice, on the other hand. Justice is the payment that God or other people.
may require from my offender. Justice is the payment that God or other people or government officials might require from. My offender. And while we're to give up our desire for vengeance, we never have to surrender our desire for justice. We want justice because why?
We're made in the image of God who wants justice. We serve a just God. In Psalm 82, verse 3, David said, Vindicate the weak and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Or Isaiah 1:17, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Some of you are struggling with forgiveness right now because You want justice for the person who hurt you. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you let God deal with it and not yourself. You know what a bill collector is. A bill collector is somebody a company turns over an account receivable to. If the company can't get the money from the person, he turns it over to a bill collector to get the money from.
You know who the best bill collector in the whole world is? God the Father. He knows how to collect on a debt. And when you forgive, you're basically turning the debt over to God and saying, God, you settled the score. I'm not going to try to settle the score myself.
Forgiveness is not about surrendering our desire for justice. Thirdly, forgiveness is not about forgetting. The offenses committed against us. Forgiveness is not about forgetting. People say to me, Well, Pastor, I still remember.
I keep thinking about what that person did to me. I guess that means I haven't really forgiven them, right? Wrong. Remember this: forgetting is a biological function. Forgiving is a spiritual function.
You know, um Every experience you have. is chemically and electrically embedded. In your mind. Did you know that? And it never leaves.
Now it may fall below the surface. You may not be able to remember where you put your car keys, but guess what? I mean, that experience of putting them by the coffee table is still in your brain and it may surface. Forgetting is a biological function. But forgiving is a spiritual function.
Just because you forgive doesn't mean you necessarily forget. Forgiveness is saying, I'm no longer going to hold this offense against this person, I'm going to let God deal with it.
Now I know some of you Bible scholars are saying, I've asked her, wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say when God forgives, He forgets? They quote Jeremiah 31, 34. God says, I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will what? Remember no more.
God forgets, shouldn't we?
Now think about this. When God forgives our offenses, do you think really a divine case of heavenly Alzheimer's sets in on God?
Well, I just can't remember that anymore. I guess I'm getting old. Is that what happens? Of course not. It's not that God forgets.
I think the best way to understand what God's forgiveness means is found in Romans 4, 7, 8, when Paul, quoting Psalm 32, says, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, whose sin has been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. That's what it means. He no longer charges our sin to our account. That's a forgiveness transaction.
When God forgives us, He no longer holds us accountable for our sin. Listen, the Bible says. Every time we sin against God, We owe God for the sin we've committed. Sin always creates an obligation. And the more we sin, the bigger the IOU that we owe God.
I mean, just think about it. Every wrong thought, every wrong motivation, every wrong action is a sin that requires repayment. Our sin debt to God is incalculable, and the longer you live, the bigger that debt becomes. No, there's only one person who can pay your sin debt, and his name is Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad that Jesus Christ provided the ultimate model of forgiveness?
No debt we owe is too high, no sin too egregious. He stands ready to cover it all.
Well, forgiveness is one of the seven marks of a true follower of Jesus. And we'll learn more about this life-changing principle on tomorrow's edition of Pathway to Victory. Just before we turn things over to David, we're eager to remind you that time is running short to request an exclusive book that's produced and published by Pathway to Victory. It's called Encouragement for the Heart of a Disciple. This beautiful devotional book contains brief entries that can be read in under two minutes.
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Join us again next time for the conclusion of this message on developing a forgiving heart here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.
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