The Unforgiving Servant.

Steve Gentry

[0:04] Alright, go ahead and have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time [0:09] here, my name is Steve and I am always thankful and grateful to see each and every one of [0:14] you, especially those of you that I’ve never seen before. Thank you so much for giving [0:19] me the privilege of worshipping Jesus alongside you. My name is Steve. I’m one of the pastors [0:25] here. If you have your Bibles, open them up to Matthew chapter 18. We will start in verse [0:30] 23 today. And if you’ve been with us and need some review, or maybe this is your first time

[0:36] here and you’re not sure where we’re going through, we’ve been going through the parables [0:40] of Jesus specifically, those that are about His kingdom and what He tells us His kingdom [0:46] is like and how He describes the kingdom of God. And it’s interesting to go through these [0:52] parables and understanding that the totality and the foundation of what He’s building for [0:58] us is His identity. So these parables really have two goals. First, it is to reveal to [1:07] us what His kingdom is like. So if we know who He is and we see His identity as God,

[1:14] we realize who Jesus is, then what He is telling us about His kingdom will sink into our lives, [1:20] we will know it, we will treasure it, we will understand it because we’re seeking the [1:24] King of the kingdom. The kingdom is all wrapped up in who He is. But He has another intention [1:30] with these parables and that’s to conceal the truth of His kingdom from some. He uses [1:37] stories and analogy with the purpose of being to conceal the kingdom if you don’t know who [1:43] He is. If you don’t have faith that Jesus is God, then these parables are meaningless

[1:47] to you. If you don’t have faith that Jesus is the King of this kingdom, then the meaning [1:54] is totally lost on you because you’re not seeking His kingdom. Because to seek the kingdom [1:59] of God is to seek Jesus because He is God. So Jesus gives these parables so that we [2:07] will grasp the meaning of what life is all about. So that we will know that the kingdom [2:12] of God is not just some far off hope, it is that, but it’s more. It’s right now. It’s [2:22] present. It was directly in front of the audience here and the implications of these stories

[2:28] are what He’s trying to get into our lives is the effect of what being a person who will [2:33] inherit the kingdom of God will have on you in this life. Of what it will cause in you [2:39] to know that you’re a citizen of the kingdom of God. And today we’re going to see a parable

[2:47] about what it costs to bring us into that kingdom, about the forgiveness that’s necessary. [2:52] But there’s an effect that the forgiveness of God has on your life. It’s not just your [2:56] sin is gone and it means nothing, but rather it does something to you. It changes you. [3:01] It makes you a new person. And ultimately what He means to tell us in this parable is [3:07] that the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is like forgiveness. Because faith [3:13] in Jesus impacts our everyday life. It changes who we are and how we live. And the forgiveness

[3:20] and grace that Jesus offers to each and every one of us so that we may have faith to enter [3:25] into His kingdom, what revolutionizes the way that we look at the people around us and [3:29] the way that we forgive the people around us, the way that we treat their sin. So join [3:34] me in verse 23. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished [3:41] to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him [3:48] who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him

[3:54] to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. So [4:02] the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay everything. [4:08] And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the [4:15] debt. Pray with me. Our Father, we come before You as people who owe You a great debt. It [4:25] is a debt of sin for our rebellion against You and everything that You’ve made us to [4:29] be, all that You’ve created us to worship in You, we’ve fled from that, we’ve sinned

[4:34] against You. But You’re a great God who doesn’t simply seek to condemn in His wrath but instead [4:40] seeks to redeem us through faith in Jesus. God, I pray that You would give us that faith [4:46] today, that You would gift it towards us. And our Father, I pray that we would grasp [4:52] what it is to live as people of Your kingdom right here, right now. That You’ve given [4:57] us a mission to show this world what forgiveness is. You’ve given us a mission to show this [5:04] world that justice is found in the cross, in the cross alone. And that through our

[5:10] lives we may be a people who live to show Your grace to all those around us. Teach [5:16] us today. Open our hearts to Your word. Spirit, give us power. In the name of Jesus, I pray, [5:24] Amen.

[5:27] Number one this morning, I want to just start with this hope that we have in the fact that [5:31] Jesus is a God of outrageous grace. It’s an unending grace. That the kingdom of God is [5:39] a place and it’s a reality that God is full of grace for each and every one of us. And [5:45] He tells us that through this story, that all of us live as a people that owe God a [5:52] great debt. And that debt is due to the sin that we’re naturally born into. As I’ve said [5:57] many times, we don’t sin and then become sinful. But rather, we are sinful and because of that

[6:03] we sin. It’s something that we’re born with. It’s something that defines us apart from [6:08] God’s forgiveness. That we live and every day build more and more and more debt by living [6:15] a life that God did not design us to live. And that’s a life of giving ourselves glory [6:19] instead of giving God glory. Doing what seems natural to us rather than going for what [6:25] seems holy to God. Rather than chasing after Him, we chase after ourselves. And He gives [6:31] us a story. And Jesus puts Himself in the place of a master of a great kingdom. And

[6:38] in this kingdom He has servants, people that owe Him great debt. And while He’s settling [6:43] His debts, He wants to be repaid by those who owe Him. He brings one before Him and [6:47] there’s a man who owes Him 10,000 talents. And the number 10,000 doesn’t seem that significant [6:53] to us. Yeah, maybe He needs to go get a little bit of a loan. But 10,000 isn’t a sum that [6:58] would be that great. Instead, it’s a greater sum than any of us could ever pay off. You [7:03] see, a talent represented a year’s worth of wages for a servant. So 10,000 talents would

[7:11] add up to 10,000 years of salary. By our sum, it would be probably billions of dollars. [7:20] So when He’s found in great debt to the master, He comes before the master and He’s found [7:26] out. He knows the reality. He owes Him a debt that is incalculable in His life. And it would [7:32] take Him thousands of lifetimes to actually pay this debt off. But He looks to the King [7:40] because He knows that He’s condemned. He begs Him, have patience with Him. I’ll pay [7:45] you off, just wait, give me a little more time. With full knowledge that He can’t actually

[7:51] pay it off, it’s hopeless. If left in His own condition, He’s going to be condemned [7:57] forever and to be sold into slavery to settle a debt, it doesn’t just make it go away and [8:03] you’ll eventually get out of slavery with a debt so high that your life can’t pay it [8:07] off. So He hasn’t just condemned Himself, He’s condemned His wife, He’s condemned [8:14] His children to life sentences of slavery because He’s been so foolish as to run up [8:20] such a high debt to a master. To understand our place before God, to understand who we

[8:29] are in the Kingdom of God, we must first understand who we are in light of who He is. We must [8:35] understand that we are a people that owe God a great debt. God has said, this is how I [8:41] do not want you to live and this is how I do want you to live and none of us measure [8:46] up. None of us have obeyed. All of us have run up a giant tab. All of us have run up [8:55] a debt towards God that we could never have hope of paying off. That’s why Jesus makes [9:01] this sum so ridiculous to the audience of that day. The audience of that day, as soon

[9:05] as they hear what the debt is, they immediately say, well that’s impossible. How could He [9:10] pay it off? And that’s Jesus’ point. You cannot hope to pay the debt that you owe [9:16] to God so that you can belong as a free man in His Kingdom. But there’s another reality [9:25] in there. And it’s that the debt didn’t just affect Him. It affected everyone around [9:31] Him. Not only is He condemned, but everyone around Him is condemned through His sin. I [9:39] think this speaks to a lie that each and every one of us are going to believe at some point

[9:44] in our lives. Maybe you’re believing it right now, but that is that your rebellion, your [9:48] debt to God, your sin against God only affects you. That you’re an island to yourself. That [9:53] you somehow live in some type of isolation. And it’s only you that’s ever going to have [9:58] to pay for this. It’s only you that ever hurts because of your sin. It’s only you that’s [10:03] ever going to have to pay the price. But what Jesus means to tell us is that your sin affects [10:08] absolutely everyone in your life, especially those who are closest to you. The closer someone

[10:18] gets to you, the greater effect that your sin actually has on them. It goes to his [10:25] wife. It goes to his children. Friends, my sin doesn’t just affect me. My sin affects [10:36] everyone that’s connected to me. And so does yours. All of your friends, all of your extended [10:42] family. And as the circle gets closer and closer, it affects those people even more. [10:49] Some of you have experienced this first hand. I don’t know if it was from a father or a [10:52] mother or a spouse or even maybe a child. But whose sin has so affected you that you

[11:01] know what this is about. That no one is an island to him or herself. That sin has ramifications. [11:08] It’s like a rock thrown into a pond. The waves just go out and out and out. God knows [11:16] that. Jesus is the King and He knows this. He’s giving us that reality for hope in our [11:22] lives. And He wants us to feel the weight of that. He wants us to feel the weight that’s [11:27] coming under this man. That He knows that his wife, He knows that his children that [11:31] He loves the most are going to hurt. There’s nothing more that I want than to keep those

[11:36] people from hurting. But the sin that so easily besets me, the debt that’s encrewed in my [11:40] life, burden continues. It’s hopeless. And when you realize the condition that you’re [11:49] in, you have nothing else to do but to fall on your knees in front of the Master and [11:55] beg for mercy. Even if it seems hopeless to you. Here’s the amazing part about this story. [12:04] Because what this Master does makes no sense logically. Especially economically. This is [12:10] the debt of a small nation. This will bankrupt you. And so a Master is not treating this

[12:17] as, oh it’s just a little debt that this one servant owes me. No, this servant has bankrupted [12:22] his kingdom. It’s treasonous, the amount of this debt. And in pity, he is moved by the [12:32] contrition. He’s moved. He says, I forgive you. Your debt’s gone. You’re released. [12:44] See, it would have been one thing to just look at this man and say you’re forgiven. [12:46] But he goes above and beyond that to something that seems even dumber to me. He then says, [12:52] and you’re no longer my servant. See, he’s a servant in this kingdom. And the Master

[12:59] looks to him and says, not only is your debt forgiven, but you have been released. You [13:03] are now a free man. Go into my kingdom as a citizen. One who belongs. One who has no [13:09] debt. One who is not going to be my slave or servant any longer. You’re free. We look [13:16] at that. And what amazing mercy. And then poured on top of it is this amazing grace [13:22] of something that he doesn’t deserve. Of something that he could have never worked for. And then [13:27] in this picture, we have the Gospel. A debt so large that it’s incalculable. A debt so

[13:37] large that it’s treasonous. And the debt is forgiven through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [13:46] Friends grace is about redemption and restoration. You see, the Master had every right to move [13:55] in judgment against this man. He had every right to condemn him in the state that he [14:01] was in. His debt was real and every law should have held him accountable to it. And the [14:07] only one who has authority to rule was the one who was owed the debt. And he does. The [14:13] Master moves. The man could have never worked off this debt. He was hopeless. But the Master

[14:19] has pity. The Master has mercy. He does this. Not so that at some point he can look to [14:26] him and say, hey remember, you owe me bro. Got my eye on you. Now if he was doing that [14:34] he would have said, and you’re still a servant by the way. No. Free. Complete. Total. You [14:44] know God deserves debt to be paid for your sin against him. See this parable is a direct [14:51] comparison to how God moves in the Gospel. A debt of sin greater than can be paid that’s [14:56] owed to God and he deserves payment. But in love he moves to redeem us from our debt and

[15:01] restore us to good standing in his kingdom. He does this so that we can be freed completely [15:06] from the slavery of sin that’s in our lives. This is an outrageous grace, but this is exactly [15:12] what God offers to us through Jesus. Real freedom. Every day you are chasing some type [15:22] of freedom and God completely offers it to you in Jesus. If you’ll only realize who [15:27] you are in light of who he is. If you only realize the condemnation that’s true in your [15:32] life. This is why we found such great joy and grace. This is why last week when we looked

[15:38] at the parable of the great treasure we find such amazing joy in people’s lives when they [15:43] find the treasure of the Gospel. Because they find this treasure that they do not deserve [15:48] but it’s lavished upon them. They find this treasure that by all measures, by all laws, [15:56] they do not deserve to even see. And God gives it graciously. God does not move simply to [16:04] condemn. God moves and is patient and works and redeems and ultimately sacrifices himself, [16:12] his very life to pay the debt of sin that’s owed to him. What type of God would do this,

[16:19] and it’s our God, it’s Jesus. It doesn’t just sweep your sin under the rug. It doesn’t [16:25] just pretend that it doesn’t exist because it does. Because it hurts. Because it hurts [16:30] others and ultimately it hurts you. That’s not the type of debt that can be swept under [16:36] a rug. That’s real sin. That’s real pain. And instead God moves to bring true justice. [16:42] God means to bring true grace and true forgiveness. And he moves and comes himself, becomes a [16:47] man. The one who spoke the world into existence goes to the cross, endures the penalty of

[16:53] God’s wrath for all time. Brings real forgiveness. Jesus cries out on the cross, paid in full. [17:00] He’s speaking of the debt of our sin. My sin. Your sin. This is the most outrageous grace [17:07] that has ever been known. Where he doesn’t look to us in our debt and say, work to pay [17:12] it off. No, he says, paid. You’re done. I’ve paid it. It’s not even a loan. It’s a gift. [17:20] Mercy for forgiveness and grace to belong in the presence of the master, un-condemned. [17:27] Can you imagine what it would feel like to owe the debt of a thousand lifetimes to a

[17:32] king and then be called into his presence? Can you imagine the fear? Can you imagine [17:36] the shame? Can you imagine the guilt that’s on your shoulders? And then you stand in front [17:41] of that king and you cry out for mercy and he says, you receive it through the death [17:46] of my son. You’ll belong. You’re free. Guilt paid. Friends, that is the very grace that [17:55] God offers to each and every one of us through his son, Jesus Christ. We find joy in that [18:02] grace. We find peace in that grace. We find life, hope. And in the life that comes from

[18:11] that is a life of gratitude to Jesus. Unending worship of taking us from a condemned state [18:20] to a place of freedom. That changes you. Transforms your life. But Jesus doesn’t stop there.

[18:33] Jesus continues the story to show us what this type of grace, what this type of gospel [18:39] is going to do in our everyday life. Look at verse 28. But when that same servant went

[18:50] out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred dinari. And seizing [18:56] him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down [19:02] and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. The same thing he said [19:08] to the master. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. [19:14] When his fellow servant saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they [19:19] went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned

[19:24] him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded [19:29] with me and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you.

[19:40] We read that and it offends us. I mean think about it. Unless you are completely hard-hearted, [19:50] which maybe you are, you read a story about a man who’s forgiven such a great debt and [19:58] then it doesn’t say in a while later. The idea Jesus gives us in the story he’s telling [20:03] is that immediately as soon as he’s made a free man, as soon as he leaves the presence [20:08] of the king, he goes hunting down people who owe him money. What a creep. How could he [20:19] do this? How could he react that way? Someone that’s forgiven so much moves to get his

[20:26] debts paid. I want to compare here. Ten thousand talents is ten thousand lifetimes. One hundred [20:32] denarii, it’s not meaningless. One denarius was equal to one day’s salary for a laborer. [20:43] So you’re talking about a little less than a third of a year of your paycheck. That’s [20:48] not nothing. That’s a pretty good sum. But when you consider the forgiveness of ten thousand

[20:58] lifetimes to a hundred days, you’re like, that’s so small in comparison. That’s what [21:07] Jesus is meaning to do to us when he reads us his story. He wants us to look at this [21:11] man and say, who do you think you are? Until we look in the mirror. See I owe an incalculable [21:24] debt to God. A debt that I have no hope of paying off. A debt that should, by all standards [21:31] of logic, all standards of law, and all standards of justice, I should have to pay for for [21:36] eternity. I deserve God’s wrath. I know I do. Never pay it off no matter how hard I

[21:43] try, no matter how holy I try to become. But how quick am I to withhold forgiveness for [21:52] one offense? Or two or three? You see we all stand in front of the mirror of this parable [22:01] and we find out how hard faith actually is. Number two this morning, to forgive others [22:09] is an act of faith in the gospel of Jesus. See forgiveness, and I’m not meaning to tell [22:16] you this story for you to understand forgiveness as an easy thing. Friends, forgiveness is [22:21] the hardest thing you will ever do. Forgiving someone’s offenses towards you and not resenting

[22:28] someone for the rest of your life is the hardest thing that you will ever do and it takes [22:32] so much faith that it’s going to require all the faith in the gospel of Jesus that you’ll [22:37] ever have to do it. But according to this story, it is a fruit of the gospel of Jesus [22:44] that will be true of us if we trust it. Friends the reality is, is forgiveness is the true [22:51] f-word. Forgiveness is the most difficult thing you’re going to have in your life. [22:58] The response of the forgiven servant offends us but we find ourselves in the very same

[23:03] position often times. But here’s the hope, the hope in the gospel of Jesus for you to [23:08] forgive others is that you must know how much you need forgiveness in order to forgive others.

[23:15] That’s what Jesus gives us his story. I’m that servant that owes 10,000 talents. And [23:26] until you understand that, you won’t grasp the greatness of the gospel in your life. [23:37] You won’t grasp the greatness of the grace of God, the greatness of his forgiveness. [23:42] And you will be unable to forgive those who hurt you. Because God is not meaning to demean [23:53] sin. Rather he’s showing how harmful and hurtful it is that it cost his very son his [24:00] life and he’s also showing how great and mighty it is over sin that it can more than pay the

[24:07] debt of 10,000 talents in each and every one of your lives.

[24:14] See the context of this parable is how forgiveness in God’s kingdom affects how we live in the [24:19] kingdom now. Matthew 18 has a lot to say about the reality of the freedom in Christ as well [24:25] as the effects of living for God’s kingdom will have on us right now. In Matthew chapter [24:31] 18, he’s dealing with the topic of discipline and people’s offenses against us and people’s [24:36] sin against us. And a few verses before this, he gives us this reality. He says, when a [24:41] brother offends you, you go to him and you tell him of his sin. And if he doesn’t repent,

[24:55] well then you take two or three with you to confront them in their sin. And still, if [25:03] there’s no repentance for the one who sinned against you, you take them before the church.

[25:11] Confront them with their sin. Tell them they need to repent. And if they do not, you treat [25:19] them as a tax collector or a publican. And what Jesus’ meaning like that is to treat [25:25] someone like a publican or a gentile rather is to treat someone as if they need the gospel. [25:31] Because what he’s saying is, is that if you have a continual pattern of sin in your life [25:36] and there’s no repentance, even when confronted with the truth of Jesus, when confronted with [25:42] the truth of scripture, and you won’t repent, keep going. Keep seeking. They need to repent.

[25:47] Love them. Go after them. And if they won’t, finally you must look them and the most loving [25:53] thing you can do to them is say, you need the gospel of Jesus because you do not believe [25:57] that your life is showing that you’re not a member of the kingdom of God. Jesus gives [26:03] us this great reality. And so sometimes, as a recipient of God’s grace, which if you’re [26:09] a follower of Jesus, you are, we can forget how great our debt was. And so we can begin [26:18] to well up inside of us a form of self-righteousness that would have us to look at text on discipline

[26:23] and text on getting other people to repent from their sin and treat it like the baseball [26:30] bat of God’s wrath. And if you sin, we’re after you. We’ll get you. And so there’s [26:38] this form of self-righteousness that can come up inside of me as I follow the gospel and [26:43] as I grow in the gospel and as I get closer and closer to Jesus, I still live in a sinful [26:48] world and I still deal with some of the after effects of sin. So pride can well up inside [26:53] of me and I can forget about how far I was from God and that it’s only grace that has

[26:58] brought me this far. And I still every day need to be a recipient of God’s grace and [27:02] I can look at others who sin and say, what is your problem? I mean, look at this. I got [27:09] it figured out. Why can’t you? So you’re like, I got to go after everybody because [27:14] you’ve all offended me with your sin. So one by one in your religion, you start picking [27:19] them off and God wants us to understand that’s not the attitude of church discipline. It’s [27:25] not what he means to do. Peter didn’t get it either though. Verse 21, Peter, who always

[27:32] opens his mouth and makes a fool of himself, he tells Jesus this. Peter came to him and [27:40] said in response to what Jesus said about getting people to repent, he said, Lord, [27:43] how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times. Okay, [27:49] here’s what you may not understand about the background of this. In rabbinical tradition [27:53] at this time in first century Israel, they wanted to interpret the scripture for everybody [27:59] to say specifically how to live it out in their lives. And so all of forgiveness was

[28:05] boiled down to a mathematical equation to them that God expects you to forgive someone [28:11] who sins against you at least three times a day. Now, after the third time, you can [28:16] withhold forgiveness. But you’re holy if three times you forgive them. And so Peter thinks [28:21] he’s going to impress the Lord. And so he says, Jesus is better than any rabbi I know, [28:28] so surely Jesus will be more than double forgiving than anybody else. So he comes to Jesus and [28:33] he says, well, what is it, seven times? Ha ha, that’s way more forgiving. Jesus responds

[28:40] to him and he said, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. Some translators actually [28:48] bring that equation to Jesus saying 70 times seven, which is 490 times. And that’s not over a lifetime, [28:54] that’s over a day. Jesus means to exaggerate here. And here’s the exaggeration. Jesus means to [29:00] exaggerate so that you will understand that the grace of God’s limitless. That whenever you need [29:07] grace in your time, you can have it. His grace is unending. Jesus is not just our justifier, [29:17] he’s not just the one who atones for our sin. Jesus is also our example. So he moves to tell

[29:24] Peter and say, Peter, basically stop trying to impress me because you’ll never exhaust my grace.

[29:32] In his stupidity, Peter needed grace right there and Jesus forgives him. Friends, [29:41] discipline in your life from those who are around you. It’s never about law and it’s never about [29:47] condemnation. And if it is, friend, you are trying to disciple people in the wrong direction. We [30:00] Jesus means to say is when you take that sin to someone and they repent, you don’t look at them [30:05] and say, well, hell, maybe you’re being genuine. We’ll see over time. No. Jesus says when they show [30:16] signs of repentance, you forgive and leave the rest with God. And if they sin again, take their

[30:27] sin to them again. And if they repent, forgive them again over and over and over. See, there’s no [30:35] cheap grace here. There’s no excusing sin with no justice here. There is real repentance. There is [30:44] real forgiveness. I wish that I could keep each and every one of you from ever feeling the offense [30:56] of someone sin against you for the rest of your life. I would gladly give my life if it would [31:02] protect my wife and children from ever having someone sin against them. But this is a sinful world.

[31:12] As forgiven people, we walk every day into a world that’s still enduring the curse of the sin [31:17] from the fall of Adam and Eve. Because of that, people are going to hurt you.

[31:25] People are going to hurt my family. People are going to hurt me. But you know what I understand [31:30] because of scripture and because of Jesus? I’m going to hurt my family. I’m going to hurt my wife. [31:40] I’m going to hurt my children. My wife’s going to hurt me and my children are going to hurt me.

[31:47] See, even if I gave my life, it would be fruitless because it wouldn’t be as good as God’s grace. [31:53] Number three this morning. Resentment and vengeance become a prison that rob you of joy in the gospel.

[32:08] Resentment is a prison of one. You. See, there’s this lie that we tell ourselves that when someone [32:16] sins against us or when we know sin is in someone’s life and they’ve hurt us and we believe this lie [32:22] that if I resent you, there’s going to come a day where I’m going to be able to get back at you and [32:26] I’m going to be able to make you pay. And so you spend your life with this fire burning inside of [32:31] you and you’re like, oh man, this is killing you that I feel this way about you. In the meantime, [32:35] they’re just getting up, going to work, eating lunch. They have no idea they’re free. You know

[32:41] who’s in prison? You are. You’re imprisoned by your resentment. You’re consumed by that fire [32:50] that’s burning inside of you. It’s not hurting anyone but you. Why? Because you are not [32:55] experiencing the grace of God’s joy and presence in your life. Note verse 34.

[33:04] And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debts. [33:14] So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

[33:24] Those last three words are kind of painful because I can fake forgiveness all day long [33:29] but when you get it into my heart, well that’s a different story. That means I have to mean it.

[33:36] Note that it wasn’t the man that owed him a hundred denarii that ended up condemned.

[33:45] The one who withheld forgiveness was condemned forever. He was in his prison because his lack of [33:52] forgiveness revealed something great about him. It revealed something quite terrible and it was [33:59] that his life had not been changed by the forgiveness that God offered him. See, [34:03] if you truly have faith in the gospel, if you truly know who you are in light of who Jesus is [34:08] and the great grace that he offers to each and every one of us, then it will redeem you into a [34:14] state of striving to grow to be like Jesus and you will become a forgiving person. It’s a fruit

[34:21] of the gospel. You will move in compassion. You will move in love. You will move to redeem people [34:28] from the sin and the guilt that are upon them by showing them the forgiveness that is available [34:33] on the cross of Jesus Christ. You see, he shows

[34:40] that the forgiveness that was offered to him meant absolutely nothing to him. Friends, [34:47] we believe that our holding offense over someone’s head condemns them. Jesus shows that our lack of [34:55] love condemns us. When someone repents it is not our place to question or hold it against him or her. [35:02] We’re to respond with trust in God’s forgiveness in Jesus. If their repentance rings untrue and [35:08] they continue in sin, you call them to turn from sin once again. You see, biblical grace is [35:14] transforming grace. In Ephesians 432, the apostle Paul writes in the same light of this text,

[35:22] he says, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. And then he follows it [35:28] the apologetic of our forgiveness as God and Christ forgave you.

[35:35] Matthew 612 informs us that when we understand our debt owed to and pardoned by God, the evidence [35:41] of it in our lives will be our moving with forgiveness towards others when we pray and [35:46] forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. See, you don’t forgive others so that [35:54] you will be forgiven. You are forgiven by God if you trust in Jesus and it moves you to forgive [36:00] others as Jesus has forgiven you. And so the great moments of our lives are not wrapped up in us [36:09] wielding some type of mythical authority that we believe that we have because of the hurt and the

[36:15] pain in our lives. Our power in the gospel is shown how Jesus’s was shown. Forgiveness.

[36:28] And how do you know if you’ve truly forgiven someone?

[36:34] You see, Jesus doesn’t seek vengeance in the cross, he seeks reconciliation. [36:40] Forgiveness is true and forgiveness is real for other people if you move with hope of actual [36:46] reconciliation. You see, I’ve struggled to forgive many times. I’m guessing I’m not alone since you’re a bunch of sinners.

[37:03] But I really believed that I would gain something from someone that hurt me and I would always tell people, [37:12] oh you don’t understand, I’m going to crush them. I’ll make them feel the pain that I’m feeling.

[37:22] And as I’ve been given faith in Jesus by God, I’ve come to understand that that’s not real power, [37:27] that real power is actually forgiving. And when I’ve truly been given the ability to forgive in my own repentance, [37:36] what I actually see is that I begin to have this strange feeling overcome me and it is this feeling that I want the best for that person.

[37:47] That I actually want them to feel love. That I actually want them to have the hope of the gospel. [37:55] That I actually want them to know the grace of God. That I actually want them to be successful in life. [38:02] That I actually want them to live a blessed life. That I actually want what is absolutely best for them [38:07] and that is the presence of God through the Holy Spirit each and every day in the gospel of Jesus Christ. [38:12] If you forgive someone, you will want what is absolutely best for them and you’ll strive to give it to them.

[38:23] There’s one situation that comes to my mind where I really had it out for someone. [38:29] I was like, man, I want terrible things to happen to them and God’s working in my heart for me to repent of such a thing. [38:35] And then one day I just felt this, I wanted what’s best for them. [38:41] And for a moment because of my sin and my insanity, I thought to myself, oh come on!

[38:50] How can I want what’s best for this person?

[38:54] And ultimately it’s because I have faith in the gospel that I want what’s best for them.

[39:01] See what Jesus means to tell us by telling us that in the end that man is condemned by God. [39:07] He wants us to understand that God does judge sin. He wants us to understand that forgiveness is real [39:13] and it is legitimate and he wants us to understand that it is very, very difficult.

[39:20] Fourthly this morning, all forgiveness comes at great cost to Jesus.

[39:31] The problem with us is that when we move to hurt people, when we move to get payback, [39:39] we’re denying the very gospel we claim to believe.

[39:43] You see, God never sweeps my sin under the rug. God never sweeps your sin under the rug. [39:49] It’s not a gospel in which he pretends our sin doesn’t exist. [39:53] It’s a gospel in which he finds absolute justice in the cross of Jesus Christ. [39:59] It’s a justice that’s so great that it costs the Son of God his very life. [40:06] You see, in the cross of Jesus, it is the place where justice and mercy meet. [40:12] But for us to understand the greatness of the kingdom of God,

[40:15] we must understand that the kingdom of God is not all about me.

[40:21] If it were, sure, I could move in retribution. Sure, I could move with vengeance, but when I do that, [40:26] you know what I do? Excuse me, you know what I do? I unseat the master of the kingdom and try to put [40:32] myself in his place. The kingdom of God is not all about you. The kingdom of God is all about Jesus. [40:40] And in the kingdom of God, because of the debt I’ve been forgiven, [40:44] I move each and every day to make him look great. My life is not consumed with me. My life is [40:50] consumed with him. My life is consumed by showing the entire world how amazing this grace of Jesus

[40:58] Christ is in my life, and I want to show it to others. And when I move to forgive, I tell the [41:03] world, God is still the judge, and because he’s the judge, he’s moved in great mercy and in great [41:09] authority to forgive me. So when I’m hurt, does it hurt? Yeah. But I know that that hurt [41:20] was also felt by Jesus Christ on the cross. Because Jesus did not just die [41:28] for my sin against him, my sin against others. Jesus also died for all sins done against me. [41:37] Jesus also paid the penalty for all hurts that come from the outside in to me.

[41:44] And so if you are looking for justice for the sin and the hurt that people have brought towards [41:50] you, understand that you will never find it apart from the gospel. You will never find it apart [41:57] from the cross. The cross is where justice and grace meet, and forgiveness is given liberally. [42:06] It really deals with sin.

[42:12] When you understand that, you treasure the sacrifice of Jesus.

[42:18] And when you do not treasure that sacrifice, you won’t forgive. [42:22] And what that reveals is that you don’t believe it.

[42:27] Finally, let me caution you to a few things. Because there’s also another side to this story. [42:35] There’s the one who needs to be forgiven. And there’s one way of reacting to this parable by [42:42] saying that you deserve forgiveness. So you run to the one whom you deserve forgiveness from, [42:48] and you hold this over their head, and you say, haha, read Matthew 18, you have to forgive me.

[42:54] And you think you got them.

[42:58] Friends, that’s not what Jesus is saying. Because when you react in that type of mentality, [43:02] understand that you’re not repentant. That you’re actually guilty of the same sin that the one who [43:09] won’t forgive is, and that is pride. That is making yourself the centerpiece of God’s kingdom [43:16] when it is actually Jesus. You can’t hold your need to be forgiven over someone else’s head. [43:23] That’s not true repentance. There should be mourning in your seeking of forgiveness. A true [43:32] favor of resentment. And trying to out resent the other person. You’ve hurt me, I’m going to resent

[43:39] you. Oh yeah, well you won’t forgive me, so I’ll resent you a little more. Friends, it gets neither [43:44] of you anywhere. Restoration really deals with sin, and it empowers for healing, which requires [43:50] repentance. It requires forgiveness. And it will eventually lead to reconciliation. Because what [43:57] does Jesus show us in the cross? Not a God who simply arbitrarily moves in condemnation, [44:02] but a God who seeks reconciliation with his creation through a great price, and that price was the death [44:08] of his own son. We do not hold our heads high in seeking restoration. Nor do we hold our heads high

[44:16] in seeking forgiveness. We live lives of continued repentance. Understanding that the king of the [44:27] cross, Jesus endured great pain in order to fulfill his own law of justice. Jesus is the [44:33] sacrifice. Jesus is the treasure. Jesus is the one who loves so much that he forgives at great [44:40] cost to himself. Make him holy. In seeking forgiveness, truly repent because of the cross. [44:48] Truly repent because of the cost of your sin to God. And if you have been sinned against, [44:53] truly forgive because of the cross. Truly accept repentance by someone. Because you believe that

[44:59] Jesus has paid it all, and that the debt has been paid in full by the cross. We need to be [45:05] forgiven, and we need to forgive. No one has any claim to authority but Jesus. Therefore, [45:12] we must humble ourselves to constantly seek him. And in doing that, we not only find forgiveness, [45:18] but we find a real basis to give it to others. So in closing this morning, I want to ask you a [45:26] few questions. And I understand because of my life how difficult these questions are. [45:38] Who do you need to forgive?

[45:43] You see, for many of you, as soon as I said that a name or a face came into your mind,

[45:51] and I don’t mean to tell you that they didn’t hurt you because I know they did, [45:55] but I also mean to tell you this morning that the Holy Spirit has brought that person to your mind.

[46:02] Are you finding justice for that sin on the cross, [46:06] or are you seeking to strangle it out of that person yourself?

[46:15] God has not called you to do that because you can’t.

[46:22] He’s called Jesus to do that, and Jesus did it by sacrificing himself for that sin.

[46:34] Who do you need to ask forgiveness from?

[46:42] See, I know that we don’t just get sinned against, but we also sin against others.

[46:49] Who is it that you’ve hurt, that your pride is keeping you from seeking reconciliation? [46:57] And you know the pain that you’ve caused them is real, and you know that Jesus has forgiven you, [47:06] yet you allow them to sit in a prison of resentment, and both of you need to be seeking [47:13] reconciliation. Is your hope in the grace of Jesus, or are you hiding from his grace?

[47:26] As the band comes up, as we do every week, I want to reflect in communion, but as we do this today,

[47:36] I can’t say enough

[47:40] that your sin is no easy matter. It costs the Son of God his very life.

[47:49] See, we reflect on communion every single week because it’s in the gospel.

[47:55] The bread represents the broken body of Jesus. The cup represents his shed blood.

[48:03] Friends, that’s what it cost God

[48:07] for you to have the forgiveness of 10,000 talents,

[48:14] because you owed God a debt. It’s incalculable.

[48:20] And he doesn’t come and remind me of that. He comes and saves me from it, [48:31] and he’s moved to save you. Your sin isn’t swept under the rug. It’s paid for. The penalty is gone.

[48:43] And as we reflect on this today, I want it to be as a people, because when we do it, we proclaim that we believe that.

[48:54] And as you proclaim today, I want you to first proclaim it as someone who’s been forgiven. [48:59] Have you trusted in the grace of Jesus Christ?

[49:05] Do you know who you are in him?

[49:09] But secondly, we get a warning in 1 Corinthians from the apostle Paul, and that warning is that if we have strife [49:17] between a brother or sister and us, that it can borrow us from this table.

[49:26] I think this parable helps us to understand why. [49:30] The reason is that when these offenses pile up in our lives, and we won’t deal with them, and we won’t forgive, [49:37] and we won’t seek forgiveness, because who do they think they are? What we do is we actually [49:42] reveal we don’t believe the gospel. You know it’s your everyday life that actually reveals what you believe?

[49:50] When you come today, don’t let that borrow you from Jesus.

[49:59] For some, it might mean waiting till next week.

[50:04] But for others of you, maybe in this moment, you’re being freed from that resentment.

[50:13] Come, proclaim the gospel, and then move to reconcile.

[50:22] Or maybe you’re in here and you’ve never trusted Jesus.

[50:26] And that weight of sin, it’s on your shoulders. [50:31] You know what you owe God, and you’re working so hard to either ignore it or to work it to pay it back.

[50:40] You can’t. It’s the only situation where I’ll look at you and say you are hopeless.

[50:49] But the scriptures tell us, thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. [50:52] He has forgiven you. Trust Him today.

[51:02] When you’re ready, come.