The Forgiven Forgive

Good morning. It's good to see each and every one of you guys here.

It's always a pleasure to be able to preach to you God's Word.

As many of you guys know, I'm in the same preaching course

actually that our brother Charlie's in, and that's why we get to preach

for you guys and get the opportunity. If you notice,

my wife Christine, she's going to be recording me, so I have to watch this recording

and have a physical reaction, cringing.

I'm writing an evaluation of my own preaching.

But I love you guys, and I love this church. It's an honor.

I consider it an honor and a privilege to be able to preach from this pulpit.

Our text today comes from Matthew 18,

Matthew 18:21–35

verses 21 to 35. It's on the parable of the

unforgiving servant.

Out of the options of the texts that we could preach for our class, I chose this text

because of its reminder of its countercultural message

to forgive.

We as a culture, we don't celebrate forgiveness.

We celebrate getting one's due.

When

a protagonist in the movie,

he's mistreated, marginalized,

forgotten.

The movie doesn't conclude with him

forgiving.

I don't know. We wouldn't like that.

We want to see him grind.

We want to see him go through his training montages,

and we want to see him get his victory,

get his revenge.

Nowadays,

if you don't like

something that someone has done to you,

we cancel them.

We label them as toxic,

and we remove them as far as we can from our lives.

But forgiveness

is the one thing.

The super glue that keeps

all our relationships intact.

It's the glue that keeps our friendships,

our marriages,

this own church together.

If we stop being a forgiving people,

this church will stop,

will cease to exist.

That's how important this message of forgiveness is.

So if you don't have a Bible,

you'd like one,

please just raise your hand,

and one of our members would happily

get you a copy.

For the rest of you,

let's open up our Bibles

to Matthew 18,

21 to 35.

Let's bow our heads in prayer

for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Well, holy God,

I am your servant.

You are our king.

Pray that you would address us

by your word,

your infallible

and inspired word.

As we remember

that the inspiration

comes not from us,

not from my own intellect

or my own lips,

but it comes from your word.

I pray that we would understand

and apply the words

that you have for us today

that we could be

a forgiving church,

a counter-cultural,

radically forgiving church,

and that the world

will know us

by our love.

We cannot forgive

as you have called us to forgive

unless you help us,

unless you supply the love

that we need to forgive.

Pray you would meet us.

Holy Spirit,

draw us close to you.

Speak to us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand,

if you are able,

for the reading of God's

infallible word.

Starting from verse 21.

Then Peter came up

and said to him,

Lord,

how often

will my brother

sin against me?

And I forgive him.

As many as

seven times?

Jesus said to him,

I do not say to you

seven times,

but 77 times.

Therefore,

the kingdom of heaven

may be compared

to a king

who wished to settle

accounts with his servants.

When he began to settle,

one was brought to him

who owed him

10,000 talents.

And since he could not pay,

his master ordered him

to be sold

with his wife

and children

and all that he had

and payment

to be made.

So a servant

fell on his knees

imploring him,

have patience with me

and I will pay you

everything.

And out of pity

for him,

the master of that servant

released him

and forgave him

the debt.

But when that same servant

went out,

he found one of his

fellow servants

who owed him

just a hundred denarii,

a hundred denarii.

And seizing him,

he began to choke him

saying,

pay what you owe.

So his fellow servant

fell down

and pleaded with him,

have patience with me

and I will pay you.

He refused

and went

and put him in prison

until he should pay

the debt.

When his fellow servants

saw what had taken place,

they were greatly distressed.

And they went

and reported to their master

all that had taken place.

And his master summoned him

and said to him,

you wicked servant,

I forgave you

all that debt

because you pleaded with me.

And should you not

have had mercy

on your fellow servant

as I had mercy on you?

And in anger,

his master

delivered him

to the jailers

until he should pay

all his debt.

So also

my heavenly father

will do to every one of you

if you do not forgive

your brother

from your heart.

This is God's holy

and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

In her book,

The Hiding Place,

Corrie ten Boom

recounts her ministry

during World War II

of sheltering

and hiding Jews

after Nazi Germany

invaded her home country

of the Netherlands.

But on the last day

of February 1944,

a Dutch informant

essentially ratted her out.

So the entire

Ten Boom family

was forced

to go to

concentration camps.

And there,

her father

would quickly die.

Then Corrie

and her sister Betsy,

they were sent

to Ravensbruck,

which was a

woman's labor's camp

in Germany.

And slowly

but surely,

after the suffering

that they experienced,

her sister Betsy

would also die

there as well.

But God spared Corrie

due to

a clerical error,

essentially just a miracle.

He,

she was released

from the camp

when just one week later,

all the women

in her age group,

they were sent

to the gas chambers

to their death.

And God used her.

Years later

after the war

at a church service

in Munich,

she was sharing

the gospel of Christ

when she saw

that man,

that one man.

She knew him instantly.

He used to be

a Nazi guard

at Ravensbruck.

He was part

of the people

that killed

and tortured

my friends

and family.

And as the church

was emptying,

he would

go up to Corrie,

beaming,

thrusting out

his hand,

saying,

how grateful

I am

for your message,

Frowlin.

To think

that as you say,

he has washed

away my sins.

Can you

forgive me?

Any one of us

could imagine

what she would feel.

She wasn't

exactly happy

that this man

was in front of him

sticking out his hand

asking for her

forgiveness.

Instead,

angry,

vengeful thoughts

began to flood

her mind,

remembering

this man's

horrific sin.

I'll read

what Corrie said

about this encounter.

I tried

to smile.

I struggled

to raise my hand.

I could

not.

I felt

nothing,

not the slightest

spark of warmth

or charity.

So I breathed

a silent prayer,

Jesus,

I cannot

forgive him.

Give me

your forgiveness.

this.

As I took

his hand,

the most

incredible thing

happened.

Both Corrie

and I

are amazed

of what happened.

From her shoulder

along her arm,

through her hand,

the current

seemed to pass

along.

Into her heart

sprang up

a well of love

for this stranger

that almost

overwhelmed her.

just holding

his hand

for several

moments

and her eyes

filled with tears,

she proclaimed,

I forgive you,

brother,

with all

my heart.

This is

an amazing

testimony

of powerful

forgiveness,

but Corrie

and I,

we both

don't share

this story

to be in awe

of her

or her faith.

The source

that Corrie

tapped into

wasn't the

endless reservoir

of her own love,

but it was God's.

See,

the fulcrum

that the world's

healing turns upon

is not our own

innate goodness,

but it's Jesus'

radical forgiveness

for us.

And that's why

we can ultimately

obey the main

point of our passage,

that we are to

forgive without

limit,

without limit,

ultimately because

God has forgiven

us that much more.

And in this,

he promises

to give us

the love

that we need

to be able

to love

our enemies,

to love

our offenders.

So in this sermon,

we're going to talk

about the command

of forgiveness,

the conviction

that you need

to be able

to forgive

in this way,

and the consequences

of forgiveness.

In other words,

we're called

to forgive

without limit,

forgive because

we have been

forgiven so much

more,

and forgive

because of

the consequences.

our passage

opens with

disciple Peter

coming to Jesus

and asking him

how frequently

must he forgive

his fellow brother

who sinned

against him.

You see,

it's really a natural

question to what

Jesus said earlier

in the passage

in verses 15

to 17.

In that passage,

Jesus teaches

his disciples

to confront

the sin that they

see in brothers

and sisters,

unrepentant sin.

And if they

remain unrepentant,

they must continue

to escalate the issue

and the stakes

until they have

to come to the

decision where

they remove

that person,

remove that

unrepentant person

from their midst

altogether.

This is widely

known for the

instructions of

church discipline

and even

excommunication.

But if they

repent,

which is the

whole entire

purpose of

church discipline

is to get

them to repent,

they have

gained their

brother and

sister back.

So Peter

naturally asks

just then how

many times do

I have to

forgive?

How many times

do I have to

go through this

cycle?

How many times

must I decide

to live with

the painful

consequences of

someone else's

sin and not

hold it against

them?

You see,

Peter's question

is one that

many, many of

us have asked

before.

Let me ask

you a series

of diagnostic

questions to

see if your

limit of

forgiveness,

your patience

has ever been

tested.

Number one,

number one,

are you a

driver?

Are you a

driver in

Boston specifically?

That'll test

your patience.

Number two,

do you have

roommates?

You guys are

roommates, I

know some of

you guys are

roommates in

here, don't

look at each

other here.

number three,

do you have

parents?

Do you have

siblings?

Family relationships

can get really

messy.

Number four,

this is a big

one, are you

married?

So that last

question, Ruth

Graham, wife to

famous evangelist

Billy Graham, has

widely stated one

time, the happy

union, the happy

marriage is the

union of two

good forgivers.

Unless you think

that they had a

perfect marriage,

because after all

it's Billy and

Ruth Graham, during

an interview she

was asked if she

had ever

contemplated divorcing

Billy.

And to that she

quit back, divorce?

No.

Murder?

Yes.

But the reality

is whether you're

married or not, the

bottom line is if

you're in a

relationship with

any other fellow

human being, any

other sinner, you

will experience the

need to forgive and

to ask for forgiveness

and to go through that

cycle again and again

and again.

Every one of us has

experienced the

frustration of, just

why is this person

like this?

Why would he say

something like this?

Why can't she be more

understanding?

Why doesn't he ever

learn how many times

do I have to forgive?

So Peter, the

faithful student, he

takes a stab at that

question.

He asks, seven times,

Lord?

His instincts are

really in the right

place because he's

being quite generous

according to the Jewish

standard at that time.

They were taught to

forgive up to three

times.

Essentially it's a

three strikes and you're

out rule.

And so with that

instinct, he more than

doubles that limitation

hoping that he'd get a

blessed are you, Simon

bar Jonah, not a get

behind me, Satan.

But what Jesus says in

response, it's quite

astonishing.

If you think about it,

if you sit with it, it's

astonishing.

He says, I do not say to

you seven times.

That phrase indicates he's

rewriting what the Jewish

teachings of that time

are.

I do not say to you seven

times, but 77 times.

You guys all know that he's

not being literal here.

It's not that you're just

waiting until the 77th time.

No, it's that if you're

counting at all, you've got

it wrong.

If you are keeping a record

of wrongs, you've got it

wrong.

Jesus wants us all to

forgive without limit.

Without keeping a record of

wrongs, this is a radical,

far-reaching, community-

transforming call to forgive.

If you sit with that and you

think about it, you might

start to have some questions

about that radical call.

You might ask, surely this

doesn't mean to forgive

ceaselessly.

What if my offender isn't even

repentant?

What if he's not even sorry

about that?

And in this fallen world, I

know that this applies to some

of you whose lives have been

tragically torn apart about

people who don't even seem to

care.

And so I think it's important to

clarify that forgiveness is not

the same thing as reconciliation.

We have to make that distinction.

Forgiveness is the basis of

reconciliation, but that does not

mean that they are one and the

same thing.

Forgiveness, again, is the loving

disposition toward an enemy,

toward an offender, and rejecting,

taking vengeance into your own

hands.

But complete reconciliation requires

three things.

It requires the offender's

repentance.

Repentance, it requires a change

pattern of living, and it requires

a rebuilding of trust.

Only then a relationship can be

built back to what it once was.

Forgiveness does not allow unrepentant

abusers to continue to go on

abusing.

We're not called to reconcile every

broken relationship because sometimes

those things are just simply out of

our hands.

But nonetheless, the command is that we

are always required to forgive from

our hearts.

We must always be ready to be able to

transact that forgiveness once that

time comes that is appropriate.

Because Jesus still calls us to love

our enemies and to pray for those who

persecute you.

And theologically, it's not because we

first repented that Jesus saved us.

No, we were dead in our sins.

God is the one who spoke life into

these dry bones and led us to

repentance.

We didn't even know that we needed to

repent.

But nonetheless, he extended his mercy in

such an incredible way.

And in the same way, we are called to

love and forgive our offenders even when

they don't ask for forgiveness.

forgiveness.

But you might continue to object.

It's not just to continue to forgive this

way, right?

Some people need to face justice.

Again, I say it's important to define

forgiveness carefully.

Forgiving is the rejection of taking

personal vengeance or payback into your

own hands.

Forgiving is not forgetting.

In other words, forgiveness looks like

not being the judge, the jury, and the

executioner of our offender, but forgiving

instead trusts God and sometimes trusting

his appointed governing system to uphold and

carry out institutional justice.

But still, Jesus calls us to love our enemy, to

want the very best for them, to want heaven for

them.

Because our unbelievably gracious God wants the

same thing for them.

That's why Rachel Den Hollander, the first woman to

speak up against sexual assaulter Larry Nassar, the

disgraced former team doctor of the U.S.

Women's National Gymnastics Team.

She said this in her viral testimony against him at his

criminal trial.

I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt

so that you may someday experience true repentance and

true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than

forgiveness from me.

Although I extend that to you as well.

In that testimony, she offers both forgiveness and

calls the judge to uphold justice.

She even calls for the highest level of institutional

punishment for Nassar.

You see, those things need not to be mutually exclusive.

Sometimes forgiving is loving our enemy by helping that

person see the soul-crushing weight of guilt, as she says,

through the cold water wake-up call of justice.

And so we must obey Jesus' command to forgive endlessly and

countlessly.

Even if they don't repent.

Even if they need to face institutional justice.

But again, if you compare the context of this earlier passage, the

context we're talking about is it's a repentant Christian brother.

So then how much more should you forgive ceaselessly?

So forgive your fellow Christian whom you won after confronting his or

her sin.

Forgive even if it costs you time, blood, tears, sleep, money.

Forgive in your heart.

Even the person that you excommunicated from your church and is

repentant.

Are you ready to do that?

And if that same brother sins against you again, maybe in the same

exact way, and he repents, forgive.

Forgive.

And then he sins against you again and repents, forgive.

And when he sins against you again and repents, what do you think Jesus'

answer will be?

Yes, forgive again.

And that forgiveness should naturally follow its way outside the church too.

You must forgive the person who's cut you in line and cut open your heart and

forgive everyone in between.

Forgive your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your boss, your roommate.

Forgive your previous church.

Forgive your pastor.

Forgive insults, stealing, gossiping, backbiting, betrayal, and selfishness.

Forgive without limit.

Forgive even if it hurts.

So with one final objection, you might plea, this is impossible.

I can't do this.

This is so hard.

You're right.

It is impossible for you.

This kind of forgiveness is nothing short of a miracle.

But with God, all things are possible.

It all begins with his love.

And that's why we can forgive limitlessly.

Because we were forgiven limitlessly.

We need to have that conviction if we are to ever forgive in this way.

So to prove this point, Jesus launches into his parable of the unforgiving servant.

He compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who wished to settle his accounts with his servants.

And we meet this one servant in particular.

And we found out that he has an astronomical, almost an incalculable debt of 10,000 talents to the king.

And to put that into terms that you might better understand,

a talent was originally a weight of 30 kigs of metal.

So it's typically silver.

And a common laborer at that time would expect to make around two talents over the course of his entire life.

If you do the math, simple math, you would have to work 5,000 lifetimes to be able to pay this debt back off.

And if you want to look at the sheer dollar amount of silver, it's roughly about a quarter of a billion dollars.

For a lowly servant, that is a shocking amount of debt.

How does that even happen?

How bad with your money do you have to be?

And back then, there was no filing for bankruptcy.

There's no lowering of your credit score.

There's no limited access to new loans.

No, no.

In those days, you lost everything.

You lost all your possessions.

And on top of that, you were thrown to prison, a cold, miserable prison,

until you could pay all your debt back.

And for this man, because of the sheer debt that he owed,

this is essentially equivalent to a lifetime sentence.

No, more accurately, this is a 5,000 lifetimes sentence.

And on top of that, verse 25 says that the rest of his family would be thrown into prison.

A man, he's called to be the provider, the protector of his family.

He's to make sure that his family is provided for physically, spiritually, and financially.

He's supposed to be the rock of his family.

But instead, you're looking at a man who made a complete failure of his life.

He is a complete wreck.

He's a complete failure as a husband, as a father, and as a servant.

And before we keep going and point and mock,

don't forget that the point of this parable is that Jesus is actually talking about us.

Every one of us, each one of us, is this lowly servant with an insurmountable debt to the great king.

Now, you might push back, but really?

Is this me?

You know, I don't think I've made a wreck in my life.

I have a steady job.

You know, good family.

I've got a two-bed, two-bath in Cambridge.

Keep my nose clean.

Keep out of trouble.

I'm really not that bad compared to other people in this life.

But the things are pretty good for me.

And if you're like this, this is you,

you're missing the fact that Jesus is using an analogy of extreme financial debt

to convey your extreme spiritual debt before a most holy God.

It's been said that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of sin committed,

but as in the greatness of the person sinned against.

In school, I had a frustrating experience witnessing a undergrad,

a freshman who spent a mere month studying this one subject,

wrongly claim in lecture that he knew better than the professor

who spent decades upon decades spilling her blood, sweat, tears,

trying to study the subject.

And he was completely wrong.

But he still kept on claiming that he knew better.

That pales in comparison to what we do with our God.

The creator God, infinite in wisdom, infinite in power and perspective.

He said, follow me in my ways, and you will find life and life abundant.

But to that, we said, nah.

Yeah, my ways, I think my ways are in fact higher than your ways.

My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

I can create my own happiness.

I can create my own destiny.

I have my own meaning.

Thank you very much.

And you know what this is called?

This is called sin.

And scripture teaches that just one of them merits eternal damnation.

And it's not like that one good deed can cancel out one bad deed.

That's not how this works.

The only way out is that the almighty judge just might spare you.

Maybe you do acknowledge some spiritual debt to the king.

But you underestimate the severity that you owe.

The debt that you owe.

You operate as if you owe God $10,000.

Maybe even $20,000.

But not hundreds of millions.

And with enough elbow grease and grit, you think you could pay it back and get even with God.

When you operate like that, you know what you can become?

You become like this tiny little boat.

Tossed by the whims of the seas.

You get high.

You get elevated.

When you feel like you're doing well.

When you, you know, I'm reading my Bible a lot.

And doing a lot of good things.

I'm paying back my debt.

But then the next day you come crashing back down.

When you mess up.

When you do that thing that you said you wouldn't do again.

Always tossed by the waves of the seas.

Going up.

Coming down.

Never stable.

Never secure.

This is the definition.

The quintessential definition of the instability that works righteousness gets you in your life.

No, the debt is far worse than you can imagine.

We've all made a wreck of our lives.

And had a debt that we can never hope to pay.

And when we see how incredible this debt is.

We see that there's no way out of it.

The only right response is to repent before the king.

And to beg him for free mercy.

But in my heart.

What I see in others' hearts lately.

I don't see repentance.

I see whitewashing.

Oh, you know, that's not that bad.

I see self-pity.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

For what it cost me.

I'm sorry for getting caught.

I see blame shifting.

Oh, it's not my fault.

It's her fault.

It's his fault.

I see self-flagellation.

I'm going to whip myself.

I'm going to feel so bad.

So I make up for it.

And as we see in this parable.

I see a promise to repay.

That last one is the servant.

What's the servant?

Tries to pull off.

When he comes before the king.

He falls on his knees and implores him.

Have patience with me.

And I will pay you everything.

Everything he claims.

If you think about it.

This is an incredibly audacious claim.

For a lowly servant.

Whose financial record is in the net negative.

For 5,000x times.

What he could ever hope to make in his entire life.

Whether he's making just excuses.

Or he's that bold.

Or maybe he's just that bad at math.

This is not repentance here.

Friends, I think that this is one of the hardest things.

Maybe the hardest thing to do in Christianity.

Is to accept free grace.

To humble yourself.

And to declare that I can never pay back the debt that I owe.

To believe that I made a wreck of my life.

And the only source.

The only solution.

Is not internal.

Not if I dig down deep enough.

But it's external.

Outside of me.

I need not my own righteousness.

But I need a foreign.

I need an alien.

An external righteousness.

To cover my sins.

You see, that's why the gospel is so offensive.

It says that we are more sinful than we'd like to believe.

Because the only way out is by free grace.

I find it ironic that we love free stuff.

I love free stuff.

I'd be the first to admit it.

But I'd also be the first to admit that I don't want things to be that free.

You know?

I don't want your charity.

I don't want your pity.

I can do it myself.

I got it.

But that's the message of the gospel.

We're chosen not because of any particular aspect about us.

Really, God?

You didn't choose me because of what I could do for you?

Because of my intellect?

Because of my skill set?

My resume?

My good looks?

My humor?

My money?

No.

No.

God did not choose us because of anything about us.

He chose us in spite of us.

If people saw a film of your life, all your thoughts and all your deeds,

you know what people would say about you, about God?

They would say, wow, God could love someone like him, like her?

He would die for her?

If you're offended by some of the things that you've heard in your life,

try, you were a wretched sinner, you were rebellious, foolish, blind, ignorant, lost, immoral, adulterous,

nothing to offer God but your disobedience.

I think some of the things that we've been offended by kind of pales in comparison to something like that.

Knowing our spiritual condition, therefore, is the only way to deal with this debt,

the only way to deal with this debt is by falling on our knees, falling on our faces,

pleading with the master, not pretending, not pretending like we can pay back anything.

The master in this parable, he knows this too.

Observe how he responds back to the servant in verse 27.

Our text doesn't say, convinced he'd get his money back,

the money, the master forgave him.

No, this is, there's no, you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

He doesn't think that this is a smart financial investment.

No, he says, out of pity for him.

It's no sweeter words.

The high and mighty king, by pitying this poor man,

saved this man and his family,

saves their life from a lifetime in prison.

See, the only thing that's more shocking in this parable

than this incalculable debt that this lowly servant,

I like how could he even possibly gain that much debt?

The only thing more shocking is that the king,

he could forgive it, just like that, free of charge.

How rich must this king be in money and in mercy

to let that kind of debt slide?

Brothers and sisters, in Christ, the same is true of our heavenly king.

Our God is rich in mercy.

His well, or his grace is a well so deep

that we will never reach the bottom of.

You can dive over and over and over

and you'll never reach the bottom.

There is no limit to God's forgiveness

if we simply just ask.

You see, some of us operate as if

our heavenly fathers, like our earthly fathers,

that we're only just a few mistakes away

from messing up this relationship

and ruining it all.

No.

Nehemiah 9 teaches us that God is ready.

He is at the ready to forgive you.

I love that word.

He's ready.

He's gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He is ready to embrace you and to forgive you.

He sits at the edge of his seat,

ready to run towards his prodigal son or daughter

who's come back home.

He's never begrudgingly receiving you back

with an attitude of,

you try this again and you see what happens.

No.

He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west.

That means the distance between our sin and us

is in an infinite space.

He casts all our sins to the depths of the sea.

He operates as if we never sinned,

just like the son.

In the high priestly prayer in John 17,

we read that the father loves us

as he loves the son with the same kind of love.

That's mind-boggling.

That's incredible.

There's no limit of the forgiveness that he has for you.

He loves you.

He loves you.

He loves you.

And see that love ultimately displayed

at the cross of Christ

because God is both perfectly forgiving

and perfectly just.

Because of that fact,

someone had to pick up the tab

even when we walk away scotch-free.

And that someone is Jesus Christ

who spilt his blood to pay for your endless debt.

See the expensive price it costs to atone for your sin.

In the Old Testament, under Mosaic law,

Israelites were commanded to sacrifice animals pure and spotless.

The best of the best.

That blood, that animal,

it was meant to hurt your wallet a little bit.

How much more precious

is the blood of the incarnate God?

Jesus, the exact embodiment of God,

the most important,

most powerful,

most lovely human being

in all the universe,

in all history,

who existed before time began,

he spilt his precious blood for you

in order to buy you.

That was the only payment sufficient to buy you.

That's how deeply in debt that you were in.

But then on the flip side,

that's how precious you are to God

that he would send his one and only son to die for you.

Paul writes that though he was rich,

yet for your sake he became poor

so that you, by his poverty,

might become rich.

So as a result of this unbelievable act of kindness,

shouldn't the servant

be transformed from the inside out?

Isn't that the natural response?

Verse 28 says that instead he goes out

and finds a fellow servant

who owed him 100 denarii,

which is 600,000 times less

than what he had just been forgiven of.

600,000 times less.

If you use the same numbers,

this is roughly 400 bucks.

Instead of showing the same forgiveness

that he received,

he violently seizes

and he chokes him.

He chokes the dude.

Demanding to pay back what he owes.

Notice what the servant pleads with him then.

He pleads the exact same thing,

almost verbatim.

Except this time,

it was very much plausible

for this servant to pay him back 400 bucks

compared to 10,000 talents.

Instead of showing the same mercy

that he had received,

he throws him into jail

until he should pay what he owe.

Now this man, technically,

he had every right to do this

because the fellow servants owed him money.

He had the individual right

to send him to jail.

But compare that to the reaction

of the bystanders.

They witnessed this

and felt deep in their bones

that exercising his right

was so wrong

in light of the mercy

that this man had received.

See that the equation

is completely flipped upside down.

He wants to equate for God's mercy,

his forgiveness,

his unbelievable love to us.

Moreover, this parable uses a phrase,

fellow servant.

It uses it four times.

I think it's meant to emphasize

the parity,

the equality between the servants

and the disparity

between the servants and the king.

But in station,

and in power,

and significance.

What that means is that

this fellow servant,

he's just a servant like him.

He's no better than him.

If he received mercy

from the high king,

ought he forgive his equal?

And likewise,

if we received

life-changing mercy

from the master

who reigns on high,

how much more

should we extend forgiveness

to our fellow brothers and sisters

whom we are no better than?

We are all equal to.

So when you are offended,

when you are hurt

by someone else's sin,

forgive,

because you have been forgiven

much more.

When it comes to you forgiving,

you guys are all smart.

I know that our church is smart.

I want you guys

to remember this number.

Remember this ratio

that Jesus presents to us.

It's 600,000 to one.

That's the ratio of debt

that we have been forgiven

compared to the debt

that we have to forgive others.

That's the first motivation

of why we should forgive.

The parable also reminds us

to forgive

because of the consequences

if we don't.

Wrapping up the parable,

the fellow servants

report him to the king

and in his righteous anger,

he proclaims,

you wicked servant.

I forgave you all that debt

because you pleaded with me

and should you not have had mercy

on your fellow servant

as I had mercy on you.

So he reinstates the debt

throws him to the jailers.

Actually, some translations

have torturers here

which just goes to show

how severe the consequences are

for unforgiveness.

Jesus makes the final admonition

of this parable very clear.

Forgive your brother and sister

from your heart.

From the very core of who you are,

everything of your being,

forgive.

If you don't,

the same will happen to you.

Forgiving from your heart

means that you can't claim

to be solid with this person

but still than ever

treat them so differently.

Treat them a little bit colder

than before.

Your answers get shorter.

Your run-ins are less frequent

because you're trying to avoid them.

Your look becomes more like a scowl.

Forgiving from your heart

means that you can't claim

to be good with this person

but now you're withholding,

giving the benefit of the doubt.

Now you assume the worst

about him or her.

Instead of bearing,

believing,

hoping,

and enduring all things,

you curse,

you doubt,

you suspect,

and you blame

all things.

If we withhold forgiveness

from our fellow servants,

we become like doormats

for Satan.

We become just doormats

for him to simply

walk into our lives

and wreak havoc

on our relationships,

on our livelihoods.

If we withhold forgiveness,

we become enslaved

and imprisoned

by our pasts,

always thinking about

what happened to us,

what we could have done,

what we should have said,

never letting that wound heal,

always living in the past,

never going into the future.

If we withhold forgiveness,

we become bitter people.

And as the famous quote goes,

we ultimately drink

the poison of bitterness

hoping that the other person

will drop dead.

Those are all infectious consequences

of unforgiveness in our lives.

If we don't deal with it now,

that infection will spread

and it'll spread.

But the greatest consequence

unforgiveness has

is on your final standing

before God.

As the parable opens,

the kingdom of heaven

is coming.

It is coming.

And one day,

the heavenly king

will settle his accounts

with all his servants.

And what our spiritual

balance sheet says

will have eternal consequences

for our souls.

Learning from this parable,

we must be wary

of forfeiting the forgiveness

that we have received

if we fail

to forgive our fellow

brothers and sisters around us.

And while this forgiveness

is freely given,

be very careful

not to presume on it.

That's an extremely dangerous thought.

In other words,

there is a motivating fear

of punishment

in this parable.

There's no denying it.

And while the more fundamental motive

to forgive

is in fact gratitude

and imitation

of the mercy

that we receive

from the great high king,

at the same time,

Jesus does still appeal

to our self-interest.

So today,

Jesus is asking you,

what will you choose?

Are you going to be found rich

in this union with Christ

by free grace,

by admitting your need

and accepting the pity

and mercy of our God

and imitating that forgiveness

to your offenders?

Or are you going to forfeit

that grace

by withholding it altogether,

by refusing to forgive?

Jesus loves us so much

that he warns us clearly.

How you measure other people

in this life

will be how God measures you.

Let me say that again

to make that clear.

How you measure other people

in this life

will be how God measures you.

If you measure others

with grace and charity,

God will measure you

the same way.

If you measure others

with a wrathful,

vengeance,

a sinic spirit,

God will do the same for you.

Because if you staunchly refuse

to offer amazing grace

to others,

that's evidence

that you likely haven't experienced it

in the first place.

You probably haven't repented,

receiving an unbelievable debt forgiven.

Still, I want to say

and hear me clearly,

this doesn't mean

that we are saved by our works.

We're not saved

by our perfect forgiveness.

We have already talked about

how this grace

is completely free.

Jesus is not saying

that he starts the work

that we then have to forgive

or we have to then finish

by our perfect obedience.

It's not that we forgive others first

in order to prove to God

that we are good.

No, we never twist God's arm

into loving us.

No, this forgiveness

forgiveness is an outpouring,

an overflow of results

of the forgiveness

you had received.

And if you have received

this forgiveness,

the command is crystal clear.

Brothers and sisters,

forgive.

There's someone on your heart

right now

that the spirit

is putting on you,

telling you to forgive

that person,

saying, hey, it's time.

It's time to let go

of that bitterness.

It's time to forgive.

If you want to grow

in forgiveness

but don't know how,

let me close

with just a few steps

that you can take.

Number one,

fall on your face

in desperate prayer.

Sean taught a class yesterday

on the power of prayer.

Loving someone

who has hurt you deeply

is one of the greatest reminders

that we cannot obey God

without his amazing grace,

his strength.

We can't do it on our own.

But the prayer

of a righteous person

has great power

as it is working.

Corrie Ten Boom

was a woman

with a nature like ours.

She prayed

that she could forgive

her Nazi captors.

And in her heart,

no bitterness reigned

upon her.

It's obviously not

what James 5 says

but forgiving feels

as much of a miracle

as not reigning

for three and a half years.

So pray.

Pray on your own.

Pray with others.

Pray with your pastors.

Confess your sins

of unforgiveness.

Pray for yourself.

Pray for your offender.

Famous theologian

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,

I can no longer condemn

or hate a brother

for whom I pray.

No matter how much

trouble he causes me.

Because in prayer,

we begin to see

that person

as God sees them.

As someone

already forgiven

or someone

that God longs

to forgive.

Number two,

remember,

keep that in mind.

That ratio

of 600,000 to one.

Bonhoeffer also said,

if my sinfulness

appears to me

in any way

any smaller

or less detestable

in comparison

to the sins of others,

I am still

not recognizing

my sinfulness

at all.

So remember

that ratio.

Repent

of your incredible

debt of sin.

Once you see

that God

has forgiven you,

600,000

of your sins

ought to

forgive just one

of your brothers.

Number three,

trust in God's justice.

God will never

let any

sin go unpunished.

either upon

the son

or upon

the offender.

He will make

all things

that are wrong,

he will make them right.

He will vindicate

the righteous.

Trust in

the ultimate

justice

that God

will bring.

Four,

this is my last point.

Rinse

and repeat.

Forgiveness

is both

an event

and a process.

For the most

painful

of hurts,

forgiveness

needs to be

a daily choice.

The reality

is that

forgiveness

is messy.

Life is messy.

It's not

usually linear.

Some days

are harder

than others.

It's okay.

Just pick

yourself up

and rinse

and repeat.

Keep praying.

Keep remembering

that ratio.

Keep trusting

in God's

justice.

May we,

Trinity Cambridge

Church,

be known

by our

forgiving hearts.

toward one

another

and towards

the world.

Let's pray.

If you,

Lord,

kept a record

of sins,

Lord,

who could

stand?

But with you

there is

forgiveness

so that we

can,

with reverence,

serve you.

Thank you,

God,

for your

unbelievable

grace towards

us.

Wretched,

weary,

adulterous,

sinful,

lost

people,

your children,

you have

saved,

you have

redeemed.

Help us

to be like

you.

We want to

be like you,

to be able

to forgive

the people

in our lives,

to extend

that amazing

grace that

we have

received,

so that the

world will

know us

by our

love.

In Jesus'

name we

pray.

Amen.

Amen.