Parables: Week 2

Well, good morning, a little out there. Good morning, welcome to

Church of the Crossing. My name is James, and I just want to

fill out a couple of things. Today after our eleven thirty service, we're

gonna have an international launch. We'll be hanging out with our Arabic congregation,

so it would be a good time. Everyone is invited. And just so

you know, they have I think the best lasagna ever created, so and

so I would encourage you. And I saw Andrew this morning. I ate

something eating a falafel and so yeah, so we're just you know, the

pastors are all checking it out. It's good stuff. So we're excited about

our family launch today after the second service. Also we launched our our neighborhood

market was officially open yesterday to the public and we served twenty families, which

also meant that one hundred and forty people we fed for the week. And

then awesome, can we get the Lord of yeah some phrase, and so

thank you for all of your donations. Let's keep that food coming in because

man, I looked in there this morning, you can tell a lot of

that food was taken yesterday, and so I just praise God for that.

Now before I jump into the message today, I just want to give you

a little heads up that as I was praying over this message this week,

I thought, for the first time in my ministry, like, wow,

this is kind of, in today's culture, a little controversial because some people

just don't agree with it. And it's because it's very challenging for a lot

of people. And I probably one time that I've been here, and one

time I was at my previous church while I was preaching on the same topic,

I would witness someone's get up in the service, upset and leave and

never come back to the church. And that's because this topic seems to be

a very sensitive topic for many people. And so what we want to do

as followers of Christ, we want to look at scripture and just say,

Okay, here's what the scripture says, Now, how can I adjust my

life to that? But that's hard, very hard for some people. So

today is a very challenging message, but it is God's word. So let's

go ahead and dive into it and ask God to speak to us and challenge

us. Today, God, we give you praise today. We thank you

for your word. We thank you that your word challenges us. We thank

you that your word pushes us to the edge. Sometimes it causes us to

lean on you because there are some things we just can't do within our own

power. So God, speak to us today, speak to our souls and

fill us with your spirit and help us to obey in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Now who it here has a nemesis? Anyone an our rival,

someone that you would consider your enemy. I had one early on the

ministry, and the problem was he forgot to tell me that he was my

nemesis. So that was fun. And I remember after I was at church

for a while, this is my first full time job, he came to

me one day and I can still remember where we were standing in the kitchen

at that church, and he says, James, I know at least five

people who absolutely can't stand you. And and then he proceeded to name who

these people were and why they did not like me. And and to be

honest, I agreed with half his points, you know, I mean,

I mean, my personality could be hard to take, especially twenty some years

ago. And but that was very hurt. That was very hurtful. And

then come to find out weeks later he told a lie on me just a

blatant lie. And when my senior pastor heard it, he says that that

just does not sound like James. So he pulled the young man young man

in college into his office and says, you know what, this just doesn't

sound like James. Tell me where you heard this or this and that,

And then he just confessed that he made it up and he just wanted me

to be in trouble. He wanted to see me, you know, have

a downfall. And what I found out later was that he had applied for

my same position and I got it. And so you know, in my

head, I can rationalize it didn't matter who got that position. He was

gonna behave that way towards anyone. But I don't care who you are,

those things still hurt. I had a hard time not hating this guy.

I had a hard time not being upset and mad for like a month or

so. And and so you know, today I'm talking about those hurts that

we received from other people. And like everyone in this room, I've been

hurt. But I know a lot of you. I know a lot of

stories. So we've been hurt in ways that I can't even imagine. Your

mother slapped you, your father hit you, your parents divorced, and when

they divorced, one of your parents acted like you didn't even exist anymore.

What do you do if that hurt? Your brothers and sisters said malicious things

about you. Kids at school said very cutting things towards you, and you

know you were told by your parents. You know what, when you get

older, you're not gonna come out to anything. What do we do with

that hurt, that bitterness, that anger. As an adult, your spouse

walked out on you, They ruined you financially, someone turned your kids against

you. What do we do with all this junk? Oh? Yeah?

And what about that enemy? That enemy that is that person that you do

not want to be in a hallway just you and then by yourself because it's

so awkward. It's that person who you just don't like and it's hard for

you to wish them anything but evil? Man? What do we do with

this stuff? And now I'll tell you what. The world gives plenty of

vice. The world says, all right, it's very simple, get revenge.

Get revenge. Your friends when you tell them about they're like, oh,

this is great. We're just a gossip on them until we drag their

name completely into mud. Social media says, you know what to do in

this situation. You show them how awesome your life is, because showing people

how awesome your life is is the best way to get revenge. You know,

your bank account. Your bank account says, spend a lot of money

and make your life look awesome, because if you make your life look awesome,

well again, that's sweet form of revenge. The things of addiction,

they say, come try me, and you don't have to worry about anyone

at all. A matter of fact, you won't even remember it by the

end of the night. But then when we look at Jesus, here's what

Jesus says, let me show you a couple of things. Jesus says.

Jesus told us to love and pray for our enemies, not just in case

we have some, but because we will have them. Do you hear that.

Jesus tells us to pray for enemies, not just in case it is

some crazy scenario one of you get an enemy. No, he told you

to pray for your enemies because you're going to have some. Secondly, Jesus

told us to love and pray for those who continually hurt us. Is there

anyone in this room who's a part of a family? All right, no

further explanation, Right, Jesus told us a love and pray for those who

continually hurt us, not just in case we have someone in our life who

does this, but because we will. Now the first options that the world

tells us, those sound more fun? How much? How much more fun

does it sound to trash somebody with your friends and drag their names through the

mud than actually forgiving them and loving them? Yeah, I mean, the

world's options do sound more enjoyable. But here's the thing. We're kingdom people,

and as kingdom people, we look to the teachings of Jesus, and

Jesus says, here's how my people live their life. And when we look

at it that way, it changes the way we respond. So today our

bottom line is simply this. We're not just called, but we're commanded.

Now, I'm gonna say this right now. I don't believe that a lot

of people will forgive people if it wasn't for a commandment, because if it

was just a suggestion or I can talk all day long about the psychological benefits

of forgiving people, but at the end of the day. Being commanded makes

you deal with it, It makes you wrestle with it. And so Jesus

could not suggest it, he had to command it. So we're not just

called, but we are commanded to totally forgive those who heard us madreyas and

sent against us. And so here's the goal today. Today, you can

walk out of here without any grudge's, bitterness or hatred. You could be

walked out of here, healed and totally set free. Now, fortunately for

us, Jesus taught a lot about forgiveness. He not only taught a lot

about it, he explained to us why we need to forgive and how to

forgive. So we're gonna jump into this text today are one of the most

difficult text in the Bible. Jesus's top guy, Peter, came to him

one day and he had an important question that applies to our lives today.

And let's throw this question up when it comes to forgiveness. How much is

too much? Is there a line? Is there a limit? Is there

a certain point where you're like, ah, you've used to fall your freebies?

What's the line for forgiveness? And so Jesus is or so here,

let's look at this text. Matthew eighteen twenty one says. Then Peter came

to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother

when he sins? Againsts me up to seven times. Now pay attention that

up to seven times. There's a reason for that. And Jesus answered,

I tell you, not seven times, but seven times seventy. Now here's

what I love. Peter, not too long after hearing a teaching by Jesus

about how the church handles people who sin in the congregation and how to restore

them, Peter goes, Okay, so I understand how the church forgives people,

but what about me personally? What's my personal obligation to forgive? So

Peter decides, or something like a magnanimous suggestion, he offers up to seven.

Now you wonder why why did Peter pick the number seven, and why

did the number seven seem like an awesome number. Well, here's what you

need to understand. He was more than doubling the Jewish tradition. You gotta

understand it. There was a tradition of forgiving people only three times, and

then after that you didn't have to forgive them anymore. Now, This goes

all the way back to Amos. See, God brings about up you would

call some declarations of wrath. Are consequences on a few nations that we're sinning

against Israel and sending against God. So God uses this poetic languish to really

just talk about how, hey, I really don't think that they're gonna change,

so I'm therefore they're going to receive consequences. But the people took this

literally. So let's check out this scripture from Amos. He says, this

is what the Lord says for three sins of Damascus. In other words,

I will forgive even for four I will not relent. You get that.

So he's like, three times you sin, fourth time you're out. But

then he says the same thing about Zach, same scripture, but he puts

in Gaza tear Edam and Aimon. So over and over and over again.

God says in the Old Testament three times, yeah, you'll be forgiven.

But the fourth time, here comes the army. So the rabbis took this

scripture which was literally figurative, which was talking about, hey, once God

sees that somebody's not going to repent, there's consequences. But they took it

literal, and here was their point. They said, Okay, if God

says that, we you know, if God's not going to forgive people more

than three times, how presumptuous would it be for us as humans to forgive

more than God forgives? And so we even see some rabbis here over the

history they gave some teachings on this. Rabbi Jose ben Hanina, for instance,

he said, he who begs for forgiveness from his neighbor must not do

so more than three times. So it does that number three times. A

Rabbi Jose ben Jehudah said this, if a man commits an offense one,

then forgive him. If he commits an offense a second time, they forgive

him. If he commits an offense a third time, they forgive him the

fourth time, we don't forgive him. So Peter therefore thought, all right,

I'm really going to press Jesus right now, because here's the tradition is

three. I'm not only going to go to three to six. I'm gonna

double it. I'm gonna add one more. That's a cherry on top.

And Jesus is gonna see why I'm his main dude. So he goes to

Jesus and he's like, listen, man, what about seven times? Let's

be a little bit more holy. So Jesus answers his very sincere question of

a powerful parable, and again shows us how the people of God's kingdom are

to live out the ways of Christ. So let's look at this. In

Matthew chapter eighteen, verse twenty three, he says, therefore, this is

Jesus answering Peter's question, how much is too much? The kingdom of Heaven

is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he

began to settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to

him. Since he was not able to pay, the master order that he

and his wife and his children and all that he had would be sold to

repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient

with me, he begged, I will pay back everything, and the service

master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. Now

there's a lot to unpack here, okay, So let's just walk through the

sparable. Okay. Now, first of all, it's not uncommon for a

king to place a governor over a region or maybe like what we would consider

a whole state. So you can maybe imagine you got a caesar and then

he might say, all right, I'm gonna place you as the governor over

Israel. I'm gonna place you as the governor over Italy. And so you

can imagine these governors they have a huge responsibility. And there's four things that

they were mainly responsible for. Number one, keep allegiance to the king.

Number two, keep the peace because the king doesn't want to hear about him

by fighting in the land. Number Three, you gotta keep a standing army

ready. And we see this all the way through the feudal system in the

eighteen hundreds that when a king called for his nobles, they had to bring

the army. Number four, the big one, keep the tax dollars rolling

in. Gotta bring me some money. And so he see hearing a story

that this governor he has to pay a portion of the taxes that he collected

to the king. And as we can see here the story of the governor,

he has squandered this money. Maybe he added some addshes to his castle,

maybe he help graded the chariots maybe he partied too much, it was

extravagant to his wife, his friends had huge parties. Or maybe he just

didn't do his job and he didn't collect taxes. So now we have a

huge problem. He owes ten thousand talents. Now, what's a talent?

A talent is a weight. A talent is a weight. Okay, And

ten thousand talents, by the way, was the largest word in the Greek

language during that time to describe money, okay. And it's where we get

the word myriad. It's actually the word myrios in the Greek and so we

see that during this time it's word ten thousand talents. It actually means countless

worth. Yeah, if we were to take these ten thousand towns, and

since a talent of weight usually means gold, if we were really trying to

figure out what does ten thousand talents of gold look like? It's very simple.

It's eight thousand, six hundred soldiers spread out three feet apart, each

one of them carrying sixty pounds of gold, stretched out for five miles.

Or here's that all right, here's what it is. It's eight thousand,

six hundred soldiers spread out three feet apart, carrying sixty pounds of gold spread

out for five miles. Do you understand this? This is a lot of

money here. It's eight thousand, six hundred soldiers spread out three feet apart.

They're carrying sixty pounds of gold, and they're stretched out for five miles.

In other words, this guy owes so much money that he could ever

repay. A matter of fact, this was more than the total money brought

in by Israel every year. And then you gotta understand that the average person

made a denaria day, okay, a denaria day. It's in other words,

it took six thousand denari to make up one talent. If my masks

correct, it took sixty million denari to pay off this debt. Now think

about this. If you work every single day for fifty years, that's around

eighteen thousand denari. Do you understand there's no way he could ever pay back

this debt. That's the point that Jesus is trying to get here. He

owed a debt that it was impossible to pay back. So what does the

king say, I'm gonna sell your family, I'm gonna sell your good so

I can recoup some of my money. But then we see a change in

the story. See when the man sees the situation, his hopelessness, his

consequences, he actually humbles himself and he says, hey, listen, I

will figure out a way I will pay this debt off. And the shocking

stre part of the story was not the debt, but the king took pity

on him canceled the debt. Have you ever had a debt canceled? It

feels pretty amazing. When Jean and I on our early marriage. This is

back in the day before smartphones, So some of you can't even imagine this,

but this is the day before alerts like hey, you spent too much

money. This was the day before you could control everything on your phone.

Like So, we had a weekend and we misjudged how much money we had,

okay, and so what we just over that weekend we spent close to

one hundred dollars more than we had in the bank, okay, And it

was like dump stuff like McDonald's, CVS, little things like that, And

it was a completely honest mistake. We did not mean to do that.

Come Monday, I checked my bank account kind of find out I have five

hundred dollars in overdraft fees because back in the day. I don't know what

it is now, but back in the day, it was thirty five dollars

per overdraft. So I had some charges like two dollars from fifty cents for

pop plus thirty five dollars. Now in my life during that time, that

was more than I brought home for a paycheck. So I was just like

overwhelmed, my man, I have we don't have the money for this.

And so I went into the bank and I sat down with the manager and

I just looked at the manager and said, listen, this was a mistake.

It's one hundred percent our fault, but we didn't mean to do this.

Can we have something? I just said the word to her, said

can we have some grace? And she looked at me and she says,

first of all, thanks for being honest too, thanks for being calm,

so apparently people freak out in the bank, being one of those people who

freaks out in the bank, and then, just like the king in a

story, she took pity on me and she said, I'm going to cancel

all of your debt, all of your fees, and let me tell you

something. I was so blown away by that. I'm still telling the story

twenty years later because it blew my mind, because it felt awesome to be

forgiven of something I did not deserve, to be forgiven enough, and see,

on a small scale, I can understand the servants. Master took pity

on him, canceled the debt and let him go. Now here's what we

need to understand about jesus parables. They're not just stories with the point.

There's stories with the kingdom point. Here's the point Jesus trying to make with

the first part of this parable. Number one. Ready, you're the governor

in the story. You're in this story. You're the governor. Number two.

Our sins resent that debt. Does that make sense? Our sins represent

that debt. Number Three. No matter how much you serve, do good,

or try to earn the way, there is nothing you could do in

your own power to erase that huge debt of sin. Okay, the debt

that every single one of us has incurred because of our sin is equal to

night. Let me think about your sin today. You before God, when

it comes to your sin is equivalent to eight thousand, six hundred soldiers three

feet apart carrying sixty pounds of gold stretched out for five miles. You are

in debt. Do you understand that we all had a debt? Number four?

Most importantly today, this is the way God deals with those who can

never pay back what they owe Him for their sins that they have committed against

Him, ourselves and others. When we come to God and we repent,

he takes pity on us. He forgives us our sins. He freezes from

the stain of sin. He releases us from our punishment by the way that

we deserve because of our sin. And by the way, if you're not

track with me, let me just catch you up real quick. And first

John it says, if any person says that they are not a sinner,

you are lying to yourself and you are lying to the world. Number two.

In Romans, it says, all of us have fallen short of the

glory of God. All of us have sinned, all of us stayed in

judgment. And when we go to Isaiah, Isaiah is trying to explain,

like, all right, you think you got some good works going, you

think you're good, all right, I want to compare who you are to

the holy character of God. So he says, when it comes to your

character your good works, who you are, all the good things you do.

It's almost like filthy rags compared to a holy God. So we have

to understand, we have to put ourself in the place of the governor in

this situation. Yet when we come before, we humble ourselves before Jesus.

He forgives us of a debt we can never pay back. And even though

we were bankrupting our sin, we didn't have the credit to pay it off.

Our good works don't even come close to be able to do anything about

it. And then he chooses not only to pay our debt off because we

were spiritually bankrupt, he not only cancels our debt. And even beyond canceling

our debt, guess what he does. He took our punishment on the cross,

and then he adopted us into his family. Let's look at this quote

here. This is what you need to understand today. Not only were we

all spiritually bankrupt, we went from spiritual bankruptcy to royalty. The moment that

God took pity on us and canceled our debt. You and I went from

eight thousand, six hundred soldiers three feet apart carrying sixty pounds of gold straight

out for five miles, and we went for this type of debt because of

all the sin we've done to not only being forgiven of that debt, but

then he took our punishment. And then on top of all that, he

said, you know what I'm gonna do. I'm not just gonna forgive you

of your debt. I'm gonna adopt you into my face. You're gonna be

my son. You're gonna be my daughter. You're gonna be my child.

And everything I have is yours. Not only not only does he forgive us,

but he becomes our father. Can I give amen? Your life was

not only changed, you the only went from spiritual bankruptcy. But today you

are a child of the king, because of his grace, because of his

mercy, because of his love, because of his kindness, because of his

goodness, because of his sacrifice, because of who he is, it because

of how much he loves you. It's sought after you. He says,

I don't only want to forgive you, but I want to make you mine.

That's the change. That's the change. But unfortunately we can sometimes forgive

you. Know, I remember when I was forgiven by God. I went

to my youth pastor instead, I want to see him after youth. And

I love how my youth pastor tells a story because he thought I got Gena

pregnant, or I need to do community service hours, or that I was

going to need like some character witness in like a case, like he thought

there was nothing good about me coming to him and seeing I need his talk.

And I blew them away when I said, man, for several days

now, I've been wrestling with this, but I want to give my life

to Christ. And we prayed, and I remember that moment when I realized

that I was forgiven, and I thought about all the evil that I had

done. Listen, there's a couple of things that I will probably more than

likely take to my grave, things that are so shameful and so evil.

And to think that God forgave me. But not only did he forgive me,

but then he said, man, you're my child. My whole status,

my debt wasn't just canceled, but my whole status was changed forever.

And let me tell you something. I was so blown away about that incredible

amount of forgiveness that still today, twenty some years later, I can't shut

up about it. And I think that's the point of this story. I

think that's the point of this story. And see, Jesus was hoping that

all of us would understand that when we received this like this type of forgiveness,

well, it's gonna change the way we live our life. It's gonna

change the way we love people, the way we forgive people. See let's

check out this quote here. Extravagant forgiveness should result an extravagant grace giving.

Unfortunately, Jesus knows humans, so he goes on and continues ap pearable,

he says, But when a servant went out, he found one of his

fellow servants who owed him one hundred denari. He grabbed him and began to

choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. His fellow

servant fell to his knees and begged him be patient with me, and I

will pay you back, but he refused. Instead, he went off and

had the man thrown in prison until he could pay the debt. When the

other servants saw what happened, they were greatly distressed to win and told their

master everything that had happened. This forgiven governor blew it. He just been

forgiven of this incredible debt, and he found somebody owed him one hundred denary.

And let me think about this for one second. Forgiveness like what he

experienced should have meant that that guy was graceful for the rest of his life.

But we forget, We forget, We quickly forget how much we've been

forgiven from. Sometimes we even forget that we're supposed to be a people of

forgiveness. See the text says that he went out and found him. The

Greek word there is eurisco. When we translate that to English at eureka,

and you guys have heard that thing, eureka, eureka, eureka, I

found it. So what does that mean. It meant that the guy who

had just been forgiven went out searching until he found someone who owed him one

hundred denari. So I just want to put this in perspective. He was

just forgiven of eight thousand, six hundred soldiers three feet apart, carrying sixty

pounds of goals straight out for five miles, and then he went out and

choked somebody who owed him enough money that you can put in your pocket.

I think Jesus is trying to help us understand that those of us who have

been forgiven. When we don't forgive someone, what it looks like to him,

Well, it looks like to Jesus is that we've been forgiven of eight

thousand and six hundred soldiers three feet apart, carrying sixty pounds of goals straight

out for five miles. And then we go out and we don't forgive people

for the amount that can fit in the pocket. That's what it looks like

when we don't forgive people. And so listen, now, some of you

who are like, hey, this seems despicable, unthinkable, bizarre. I

can't imagine somebody being forgiven that much of the not forgiving other people. Now

here's what this next quote here, see. Jesus wants us to see the

audacity of limiting our forgiveness to others when we have been forgiven so extravagantly.

When we hold grudges and we don't forgive people, we're like the governor who

chokes somebody for a hundred denary. It's the same thing. We want other

people to get what they deserve even though we did not get what we deserve.

We want vengeance in and even though we received grace. Abraham Lincoln tells

his story that when he was an attorney, somebody came to him very upset

because this person, who is in poverty and was a debt or, owed

him two dollars and fifty cents. And Abraham Lincoln was like, come on,

this guy has no money, he has nothing. Can't you just let

us go? And the guy was like, absolutely not. So Abraham Lincoln

came up a solution. Abraham Lincoln said, all right, if you want

me to take him and prosecute him, that my fee is gonna be ten

dollars. So the guy pays Abraham Lincoln ten dollars. He goes to the

guy and says, I'm gonna make you a deal. If you will confess

in court that you owe him two dollars and fifty cents, I'll give you

five bucks. He gave the guy five bucks. The guy went to court

confess his sin, paid two dollars and fifty cents, walked away of two

dollars fifty since Abraham Lincoln walked away with five dollars. And guess what.

The plaintiff very satisfied. Why because he just wants he wanted vengeance. Can

I just share with you one of my favorite stories of all time. And

I'm sure a lot of you have heard it. But the reason I want

to share it today some of you have been willfully harmed by other people,

and my prayers is this story from another believer will inspire you to forgive someone

that you've been unable to forgive your whole life. Corey Timboom lived during the

Holocaust in World War Two and her family they hid the Jews from the Germans

in Holland, and eventually her family was caught and within ten days of being

caught, her father died. Corey and her sister Betsy, they ended up

in a Nazi prison camp, Ravens Brook, which by the way, was

a camp that during that period of World War two, over eighty thousand people

died in this camp. They were known for shooting people, giving people lethal

injections, gassing people. They would often make people stripped down, naked and

stand before the German soldiers. Corey washed her sister Betsy grew ill suffer and

die. After the war, Corey was a follower of Christ, so she

went around Europe preaching forgiveness and salvation, and there she was. One day

after her sermon, the man one of the cruelest guards. One of the

most evil guards came up to her right after the service, and he comes

right up to her with the outstretched hand, and he says, what a

fine message. How good it is to know as you say, our sins

are forgiven. She says. She fumbled through her pocket books. She didn't

want to take his hand. Obviously he didn't remember her, but she remembered

him, and she was face to face with knowing the man who hurt her

but her sister. And then again he said, I've become a Christian.

I know God has forgiven me. And then he put his hand out again

and let me read to you what Corey tin Boom says. She says,

I STI there, I whose sins had again and again needed to be forgiven.

But I cannot forgive my sister Bessy had died in that place. Could

this guarter race her slow, terrible death simply by asking? It couldn't have

been many seconds that I stood there, handheld out, but it seemed like

hours to me as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to

do. But I had to do it. I knew that because if you

don't forgive others, or trestpasses. Jesus says, neither will your Father and

Heaven forgive your trest passage. She said, it is as simple and as

horrible as that. And I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.

But forgiveness it's not an emotion. I knew that too. Forgiveness as an

act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of

the heart. So I prayed silently. Jesus helped me. I could lift

my hand, I could do that much, but you must supply the feelings.

So woodenly, mechanically, I placed my hand into the one stretched out

to me, and as I did it, an incredible thing took place.

The current started down my shoulder, raced down my arm, and spring into

our joint hands. And then this healing morph seemed to flood my whole being,

bring it tearsome eyes. And then all of a sudden, she said,

I forgive you, brother, with all of my heart. And then

she says, this forgiveness it sets us free. It's the most unselfish,

selfish thing you could ever do. We're all called to follow Quarry ten Boon's

example, so you might ask today like, all right, how do you

forgive? I don't even know how to forget? Number one? You recall

the forgiveness you've received. If you're having trouble forgiving someone, think about the

eight thousand, six hundred soldiers three feet apart, sixty pounds of gold stress

shot for five miles. Think about what you've been forgiven of the number two.

Number two, release forgiveness upon them, and then you gotta let it

go. Let me finish the story. And by the way, this story

is not comforting at all. Okay, this last part is the part that

makes some people very, very angry. Okay, let's look at this.

It says, then the master called the servant in He says, you Wick,

his servant. I canceled all the debt of yours because you begged me

to. Shouldn't have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had

on you. In anger, the king turned him over to the jailers to

be tortured until he could pay all back that he owed. And then there's

this verse. This is how my heaply father, we'll treat each of you

unless you forgive your brother from your heart. Now the king brings us man

back in and he turns him back over to the jailers. And just as

the governor through this man in prison. When we don't forgive people, what

do we do? We torture ourselves with the thoughts of vengeance, We lose

the freedom of inner peace, We place ourselves in a prison of bitterness.

What does it say in Hebrews twelve, see to it that no one misses

out on the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up in

us to defile and calls trouble for many. In his book Lead, during

the last year's General Lee from the South was taking a tour of the North

and he went up to Kentucky and this lady walked up to him when he

came to her house, and she brought him out to where this huge,

huge oak tree used to be, and she says, look what the North

did to my tree. It used to have all these limbs and this trunking.

And she showed him where all the artillery fire took that tree down to

just like a nub. And she's sitting there and she was complaining, and

she thought for sure that Lee, who fought for the South, would say,

yeah, yeah, you know those Yankees blah blah blah blah blah.

And instead he looked at her and he says, Madam, cut it down,

forget about it. Sometimes we want to hold onto our bitterness, Sometimes

we want to hold on to unforgiveness. But sometimes we just need to let

it go. Now here's the tough thing I gotta say today. Okay,

even more than torturing ourselves with bitterness. The sad part of the stories that

it reveals who's truly following Jesus, those who don't forgive. You gotta understand

that the parables and a lot of the parables and the Servant on the Mount

does not teach us how to get into the kingdom. Instead, it's just

simply showing us that those who are already in the Kingdom how they live their

life out. So therefore, when we don't forgive others, he says,

this is how the heavenly Father will treat us unless you forgive your brother from

your heart. What the story is saying is simply this, those who follow

Jesus forgive others. Those who don't follow Jesus, they don't forgive others.

Therefore they're not forgiven by God. I'm will say that again, those who

fallow, those who don't follow Jesus don't forgive others, so therefore they're not

forgiven by God. Look at this next quote. Here, forgiveness is the

evidence that you yourself are forgiven. Now that's a hard are teaching. It's

a hard teaching. So how do we respond today? How do we respond

today? Number one, make a choice to totally forgive. Make a choice

to totally forgive. If someone has sinned against you, make a choice to

day to totally forgive. Number two, let them know they are forgiven.

It's a gift that will change somebody's life. Ernest him Away used to love

to write stories about Spain, and in his book The Capital of the World,

he was talking about this father and a son who they grew apart over

the years, and they fought and they fought and they fought, and finally

got to the point where they weren't talking to each other, and then they

were separated for years. But then the father wanted to have a relationship back

with his son, so he starts going all over Spain, but he can't

find his son, and finally he goes to the capital, Madrid, and

he takes out this huge advertisement, and here's what the advertisement said. He

says, Paco, please meet me at twelve noon tomorrow in front of the

newspaper office. All is forgiven. I love you, your father, And

that went out throughout the countryside, and Arnest him away says the next day,

at twelve noon, there were eight hundred men named Paco standing in front

of the building. I suspect that there are some Pocos here this morning who

need forgiveness. And now I also got something to say that. You know,

we really do change people's lives when we give them the gift of forgiveness.

But I want to speak to those of you who were abused by people,

and I'm talking about physical abuse. I need you to understand that I've

kind of put that in a separate, little category, and I want you

to understand that forgiveness does not equal relationship. Okay, someone murders your son,

James, isn't telling you to invite them a Thanksgiving. Okay, someone

sexually abused you or physically abused you for years, Forgiveness does not equal relationship.

I'm talking about forgiveness. I'm not saying that you've got to put yourself

around your abuser again. And so I want everyone to hear that and understand

that if someone who comes from a family worker has been a lot of people

abused, I mean that God blesses the forgiveness, but it does not mean

we have to have relationship. Number Three, talk it out with a Christian

counselor, and I mean Christian. If you're struggling with forgiveness, if you

hear this message today and you just can't do it, you've got to talk

to a counselor. As I closed today, I just from to remind you,

you know, like a lot of you, I had a childhood bully,

and if any of you had a childhood bully, you know the pain

and a hatred that could well up in your soul for many years later.

And I passionately hated this guy. And I was surprised that after I was

following Christ for a few years, I hadn't thought about him. Since I

started following Christ, I was off the Bible College, I was at ministry.

Then one day I saw him at the mall. And after I saw

him at the mall, I was really surprised at all those old feelings welled

up, and I'm like, man, I am hating somebody in but I

can't deal with this in my life. I got too much going on,

and I realized I never forgave him. I never forgave him, even though

I had been forgiven eight thousand, six hundred three feet sixty pounds a goal

of five miles out. So I found out where he worked. He was

a mechanic, and so I went into the MANICANUS place. I asked him

to come out front where there was no wrenches, crowbars or anything like that

that he can hit me with. And then we just talked about our past,

and I said, hey, all's good, All is good. I

found out he had kids. I brought him some coupons for McDonalds to take

his kids out, and I invited him a church and we were all good.

And when I walked away, I felt like a different man. I

felt freed up, I felt joy. I want every single one of you

to experience that freedom, that joy. Some of you have somebody you need

to forgive of something really big. But some of you have somebody that you

need to forgive who continually sends against you. So let me just answer the

question. It was asked at the beginning when Peter said forgiveness, how much

is too much? How often do we forgive? Here's Jesus's answer, How

many times do we forgive? As many times as it takes